


Unexpected Effects

by Kethrielle



Series: Ryder and Evfra [1]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance, Slow Build, some angst - oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kethrielle/pseuds/Kethrielle
Summary: Following the battle for Meridian, Ryder gets assigned as liaison to the Resistance.  She isn't thrilled.  Evfra is seriously annoyed.  Moshae Sjefa is determined that they'll both learn something.  No one expects them to discover they have more in common than they thought.  This mission might have some unexpected effects.





	1. Chapter 1

“This should have been Lexi’s problem,” Ryder grumbled under her breath.  “Her idea, her problem.  Makes perfect sense to me.  But nooooo.  Hand all the dirty jobs to the Pathfinder.  It’s not like she has enough to do.”

_ Ryder, you’ve all been pushing yourselves too hard for too long.  Meridian is won, don’t you think it’s time you all had a rest?  And I mean a decent rest, not a few days of shore leave.   _ Ryder snorted at the memory.  Lexi always sounded so concerned, so professional; Ryder was sure she had an ulterior motive, however.  Lexi had certainly been quick enough to put in her request, after all, before the plan had even been officially approved.

Ryder paced the conference room on the Tempest, waiting with some nervousness for her crew to arrive.  She anticipated that they would all have arguments about this plan, and no problem in voicing them.  Well, it couldn’t be any harder to convince them than it had been to convince Director Tann.

Ryder shuddered slightly at that memory.  Lexi had been so set on her plan as to go ahead and make an appointment to discuss it with Tann - for Ryder.  Lexi had glibly pointed out that it was Ryder’s responsibility to see to the health and well being of her crew.  Ryder hadn’t had time to argue the point - Lexi had wisely left just enough time between the appointment and when she told Ryder about it for the necessary tram ride from the docks.  Next time she needed to plan a tactical strike, Ryder was making Lexi figure it out - she clearly had talents in that area.

_ Three months of down time. _  That was Lexi’s plan.  Three months for every member of the Pathfinder team and the Tempest’s crew.  Ryder had known immediately that it would never fly - no one in the Initiative had taken any sort of vacation since their arrival in Andromeda, there was simply too much to do if they wanted to survive.  She had presented Lexi with an alternative.  Three months of groundside work; no combat, regular hours and regular meals.  Lexi had accepted so willingly that Ryder was suspicious, but she was stuck with the plan now.

She had pitched it to Tann as “outreach” and gaining an on-the-spot perspective on what the colonies and station really needed.  She doubted that the practical arguments had swayed him much, but when she offered him the publicity and credit for the idea, he agreed readily enough.

As her team and crew trailed into the conference room, Ryder stopped pacing, and took her station on one side of the large table.  When everyone had arrived, she began.

“Our doctor thinks we’ve been working too hard, lately.”  She paused, smiling at the good natured laughter and facetious denials.  “She wanted us to take a three month vacation, but since we can’t do that, Director Tann and I have agreed to a compromise that satisfies her.  We will all spend three months at various Initiative establishments.  We will be contributing, but it will be much less stressful - no combat situations, for instance.

“Tann has accepted my proposal, and we’ll start dropping you all off at your stations as soon as we’re ready to fly.”  Ryder’s eyes swept over her team, taking in the looks of disbelief and doubt.

“Do we really have time for this?  The Initiative could send anyone to do that - we’re needed in the field!”  Liam’s objection came quickly enough, and most of the others were nodding.

“This is an opportunity to see how all our hard work is paying off.  And to see what the colonies and outposts need that we haven’t been hearing about through leadership.  Besides, we won’t get anything done if we make mistakes because we’re tired or hurt, will we?  So, here are your assignments.

“Liam and Cora, you’ll be on Prodromos; I’m sure Bradley will be glad of your presence.  Vetra and Peebee, we’re taking you to Kadara; please stay out of trouble.  Jaal, I want you to check in with the outpost on Voeld; see how the angara and the Initiative are really getting on in such close quarters.  Lexi will be staying on Nexus.  Drack, I’m sending you to Elaaden; please check in with the Initiative colony, and make sure that they’re getting along with New Tuchanka well enough.  Gil, Kallo, Suvi, you’re staying with the Tempest, but you’ll be doing supply runs for the colonies, so you’ll have an easy go of it.”

She listened as they talked among themselves at this news, and fielded the few questions.  No one had any strong objections, which was fortunate; she had put a lot of thought into where they should all be stationed, and it seemed she had chosen well.  It was Peebee, naturally, who caught the single omission in her plan.

“Where will you be?  You get to loaf around on the Tempest doing supply runs, too?”

Ryder smiled grimly.  “No indeed.  The moshae has requested that there be an Initiative liaison to the Resistance.  That will be me, at least for the next three months.”

There was silence in the conference room.  Then Jaal ventured a slightly tentative, “And what does Evfra think of this plan?  Has he given it his approval?”

Ryder sighed.  “The moshae said she would tell him.  By which I assume she hadn’t done so before speaking to Tann about it.  So I don’t know if he has, though I doubt he’ll be thrilled about it.”

Jaal folded his arms, looking both thoughtful and amused.  “The moshae never acts without cause, Ryder.  Evfra was her student, once; she knows him well.  If she has proposed this endeavor it is with some specific goal in mind.”

“Yes, to ‘further understanding and communication between the Initiative and the Resistance,’ she said.  Also so I could observe your top commander in action; she seems to think I could use some more formal training.”

Gil and Vetra laughed at her sour tone.  “Additional training is always beneficial, Pathfinder,” Cora ventured.  

“Yeah, but with Evfra?  She’s going to come back all grumpy and silent and scowl-y,” Peebee pointed out; then added with a certain amount of glee, “I wonder who will lose their temper first?”

“I’ll take bets on that!”  volunteered Gil, naturally.

Ryder shook her head at them all, trying not to look too unhappy at the prospect of three months spent working closely with Evfra.  She was a professional, surely she could handle this mission.

Liam was the first to wander down the conference room ramp, talking about packing.  The others soon followed.  Jaal left last of all, pausing to offer hopefully, “Evfra is an excellent leader, Ryder.  I am sure your time on Aya will not be wasted.  And he may learn something from you in turn.”

 

* * *

 

“Respectfully, Moshae, this is a horrible idea!”  Evfra was well aware that ‘respectful’ was not a word that could be used to describe either his tone or his words, but he was past caring.

“Moshae, the last thing we need is an alien spying on the Resistance!  We are the most powerful military force in Andromeda, now that the kett are gone - would you truly risk losing that just so we can play nice with them?  Now is the time to solidify our position, not weaken it!”

Moshae Sjefa sat calmly while Evfra paced in front of her desk.  This was the most animated she had seen him in some time; generally, he kept his emotions so tightly controlled that she could see the tension rising off him in waves.  It was unusual in an angara, but had been his way ever since he joined the Resistance.  She could only imagine how much further his studied control would crack when she told him the rest of the plan.

“Evfra.  The Initiative is not interested in spying on us, or undermining the Resistance.  They are most grateful for our assistance in the battle for Meridian.”

“And they demonstrate that gratitude by shoving a spy on us!  Even if this liaison doesn’t deliberately spy on us, they may go talking about things they see in the wrong places and compromise us unintentionally.  I do have extensive security checks in place for everyone admitted to Resistance leadership, you know.  Now you want me to ignore those to play nice with the Initiative?  Pah!  You don’t know the risk you’re taking.”

“It is not so great a risk as all that, Evfra.”  Sjefa was still serenely calm, despite Evfra’s agitation.  “Did you think I would request someone who wouldn’t understand these concerns?  I put a great deal of thought into this.”

Evfra was staring at her in growing horror.  “When you proposed?  When  _ you _ proposed?!  So this isn’t some transparent plot by the Initiative.  No!  We have our own moshae to thank for this ridiculous scheme!”

Moshae Sjefa’s eyes narrowed, her temper finally pricked by Evfra’s stubbornness.  “Sit down, Evfra.  And calm down.”  She watched his internal debate; finally he flung himself into the chair with poorly hidden annoyance.

“I considered our safety, and in every way, our safety is only increased by bettering our relationship with the Initiative.  We have fought a losing battle for more than eighty years, Evfra!  With their help, the kett are gone.  Together, we are stronger than alone.  It is not a reflection of your abilities, or the determination of the Resistance.  It is simply fact.

“And truly, did you think I would allow any civilian Tann wanted to send us into Resistance HQ?  Of course not.  I have spoken with Andraknor, whose opinion surely even you will respect, and I was fortunate enough to get his first choice appointed as our liaison for three months.  After that, we will decide what we will do.”

Evfra frowned thoughtfully at the mention of the Hesscarl.  The moshae was correct, he had great respect for Andraknor’s experience and opinion.  Suddenly, Evfra’s thoughts ground to a halt.  He lifted his eyes to the moshae, already shaking his head as he recalled a particular report from Andraknor, suspicion rising in him as to who the Hesscarl would have recommended.

“Moshae, you did not.   _ Tell  _ me you did not.”

Moshae Sjefa nodded cheerfully.  “Of course I did.  I was surprised to find that it was possible, but how could I ignore the opportunity?  You can’t claim that she doesn’t have a respect for our operation - or our security.  She is well respected within the Resistance, as well as within the Initiative.  What possible objection could you have?”

Evfra sputtered.  His objections were strong, but their foundations were weak - they wouldn’t stand up to the moshae’s determination.

Finally, he ground out the only objection he thought might sway her.  “She is used to being in command; she will destroy my authority.”

Even this, though, didn’t phase the moshae.  “I doubt that.  Simply explain that while she is here, you outrank her, and I am sure she will be perfectly respectful.  To be honest, Evfra, she could benefit from your experience as a leader; as near as I can tell, she was not trained to lead, and while she has been incredibly successful so far, it is all instinct.  And you are well aware that instinct without knowledge is dangerous.  

“This is your chance to strengthen the person in the Initiative most likely to be fighting beside you and the Resistance.  How could you truly be doing your best for the Resistance if you allow the Initiative to put their safety, and by extension ours, in someone who is not as solid as possible?”

Evfra scowled at her, his jaw set.  That was an undeniably good point.  She had turned the conversation from a question of whether he would tolerate the Initiative liaison, to being a question of whether he would be derelict in his duty to his people.  

Snorting in disgust, Evfra shoved himself out of the chair and left without another word.  She had outmaneuvered him and they both knew it.  He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of telling her so.

As he stalked back toward Resistance HQ and his own office there, Evfra considered the moshae’s words.  So… Pathfinder Ryder would be subject to his authority, would she?  He doubted her ability to follow orders - despite the moshae’s assurances, he doubted Ryder was much used to being anyone’s subordinate.  Well, he could certainly give her plenty of experience in that area.  In fact, he already knew what his first order would be.

Smiling grimly, Evfra turned his attention to the never-ending reports that cluttered his desk.  

 

* * *

 

Ryder stood at the back of the large meeting room at Resistance Headquarters, listening to the third morning briefing of her stay on Aya.  Only eighty or so more to go, she told herself with a sigh.

Evfra dismissed the meeting, and Ryder watched with a certain envy as the Resistance leaders stood and filed quietly out of the room.  No arguing with their orders; no requests about something extra they wanted to do.  She knew she could never be happy using a leadership style like Evfra’s, but sometimes she wished she could manage similar results.  

When the last of the angara had filed out of the meeting room, Ryder pushed away from her wall and followed Evfra to his small office in Resistance HQ.  She was in for another long day of silently watching Evfra work, and she was heartily sick of it.  Not that the Resistance needed her help, per se, but the enforced idleness and silence offended her sense of practicality.  She had too much respect for the chain of command here to argue against his orders, though; even if his sole order had amounted to “sit down, shut up.”

Much to her surprise, when Evfra had settled himself behind the desk, he looked at her and spoke abruptly.

“So, Pathfinder.  Are you learning anything useful while you snoop around Resistance HQ?”

Ryder arched an eyebrow at him, biting her tongue to resist the urge to snap back at his accusation.  She was here to learn how to work with him, after all.  Patience, apparently, would be her most cultivated skill.  Buying time to get her temper firmly under control, Ryder leaned against the wall across from him and folded her arms casually across her chest.

“Well, I do wish my crew were as orderly as your Resistance leaders.  It must be nice to tell them what is going to happen and have everyone just go do it.  Without questions or complaints or anything.  To be honest, I’m sorta jealous.”

He watched her steadily, his customary half-scowl firmly in place.  “My subordinates do not offer personal opinions about my orders.  Ever.”

“Oh, I believe it!”  She grinned wryly.

Evfra’s scowl grew.  “Why would you doubt my word?”

Ryder blinked, uncertain if he was making an attempt at humor or had really taken her literally.  She waved a hand, brushing the words away.

“I just meant, that I can’t imagine them arguing with you, that’s all.  Everyone on my team seems to have some different information or issue that they save until the middle of a meeting to mention.  As if I don’t already have more work than I could ever manage in three lifetimes.”

Evfra’s stern expression nearly cracked at that.  “Hmph.  I always have more work than I will ever get to as well.  I don’t have any personal issues among those I lead, however.  Why do you?”

Ryder tried to keep her expression even.  Evfra was actually talking to her?  And more, listening?  Surely the world was about to end.  She didn’t want to discourage him, however, so she answered calmly, keeping her surprise out of her voice.

“Oh, you know.  Everyone is trying to find their place, and they all have their own interests and concerns.  I encourage them to bring those to me, because I want to help, but some days, it drives me crazy!  Don’t your people have things they worry about outside of their work with you?”

“I am certain they do, but I do not encourage them to make those things publicly known.  They are personal issues, and may be dealt with personally.  When they are under my command, they should focus on greater needs.”  He turned his attention to the datapads waiting on his desk, seemingly finished with the conversation.

Knowing she was pushing her luck, but hoping to keep him talking, Ryder spoke up again.

“I don’t know, though… I have a small team, and working together on something that’s personally important brings us together.  We work better as a team on the big things.  Builds trust, you know?”

Evfra looked up at her, datapad temporarily forgotten.  “That is a… valid consideration.”

Ryder was so surprised by this admission that she grinned, unable to resist poking him just a bit.  “Does that mean you’re going to try it?”

Evfra snorted expressively.  “Certainly not.  Respect and experience also build trust.  I prefer it that way, rather than getting too closely attached to those under my command.”

Despite the return of his scowl - or perhaps because of it - Ryder’s grin widened.  “Well, it was worth a shot!”  

Evra looked at her, his eyes sweeping over her before meeting her gaze.  His expression was completely blank.  “Most people would not consider questioning my command decisions to be worth getting shot.”

Ryder arched an eyebrow, studying him in turn, trying to read his expression.  “Hmm.  I can’t tell if you’re making a joke, or if you didn’t understand the phrase.”  She added a winning smile, “Help?”

Evfra snorted and turned his attention firmly back to his datapad.  “It is widely accepted that I do not have a sense of humor.”

Ryder waited a moment, fighting a laugh, but he didn’t look back up.  “That’s... actually not helpful.  At all.  Well played.”

He didn’t look up again, but Evfra did pick up one of the datapads and hold it out to her.  When she hesitated, he wiggled it impatiently.  

Ryder crossed the room, her face carefully expressionless, and took the datapad.  Settling herself in a chair, she began reading the reports from Resistance scouts on Voeld.  She glanced up at Evfra; he was completely absorbed in his work, he didn’t seem to spare her a second thought.  Ryder smiled to herself; he had been more talkative this morning than in the last three days combined.  Maybe there was some hope for this liaison business after all.  

She turned her attention fully to the datapad in her hand, feeling more cheerful than she had in days.


	2. Chapter 2

Evfra set aside his datapad and glanced at the time.  He groaned.  Perhaps he should just get a cot set up in his office, then he wouldn’t need to feel guilty about never leaving.  For now, though, he needed to get home and catch some sleep before he fell asleep at his desk.

Ryder, of course, had skipped out hours ago, smiling through her apologetic explanation of, “Doctor’s orders, you know.  Unless you  _ want _ Lexi down here lecturing you?”  He had waved her away without speaking, and turned back to his work.  

Evfra stood and stretched, making his way out of Resistance HQ and into Aya’s peaceful walks and plazas.  They were deserted at this hour, not surprisingly. Evfra usually enjoyed the walk between his home and Resistance HQ; the peace and quiet let him appreciate Aya’s beauty without the persistent expectation of socializing.  When he walked through the marketplace in the daytime, he was constantly stopped by someone wanting to talk.  He had learned to keep his own bioelectric field tightly contained; it helped to keep his emotions to himself and shield him from the freely offered emotions of others.  It often earned him funny looks from whoever was speaking to him, but it reduced the feeling that he was being battered by their thoughts and feelings against his will.

Evfra paused in an alcove to admire the view before him.  Aya truly was lovely, it’s large colorful plants and airy walkways blending seamlessly together.  And now, with no one around to interrupt his contemplation, Evfra could truly enjoy it.  Finally, he sighed and started home again.

As he stepped out of the alcove, someone almost crashed into him.  His reflexes saved them both; Evfra spun and extended a steadying arm as he stepped clear of the impending collision.

To his surprise, it was Ryder who caught his arm to steady herself, though she had managed to get clear of where he had been and hardly needed the assistance.

“Evfra!  I’m sorry!  I didn’t see you until the last minute!”  She was breathing deeply between words, her face an interesting shade of red, the few stray locks of hair escaping the knot on the top of her head were damp with sweat.  Evfra stared at her, momentarily stunned at her unexpected appearance.  

Ryder watched him staring at her, and grinned slightly, settling her hands on her hips as she paced a bit in front of him while she calmed her breathing.

“Ryder.  I am at fault as well, I stepped into the walkway without looking.  I did not expect to see anyone out this late.  Are you… well?”  Ryder waved one hand between them, brushing away his words before dropping the hand back to her hip.  Evfra’s eyes followed the gesture and he noticed for the first time that she was dressed quite differently than he was used to.  Instead of the casual, practical pants and shirt she wore during the day, she was wearing something that clung to her body, showing clearly the differences between human and angaran forms.  He jerked his attention back to her face when he realized she was speaking again.

“I’m fine, just out for my evening run.  You?”

“I am on my way home.”

Ryder groaned.  “Only just now?  You’re going to work yourself to death at this rate.”

Evfra shrugged.  “It needs to be done.  Speaking of work, I thought you were supposed to be resting?  Doctor’s orders and all that?”

She grinned.  “Oh, Lexi didn’t say anything about exercising.  She said regular hours, no combat, regular meals.  She didn’t say a word about skipping workouts.”

“Ha.  And I am sure you did not waste her valuable time with the question, since she had provided such clear instructions?”

Ryder laughed, delighted at his understanding.  “Got it in one.”

“But why run?  Surely you could find an exercise that would be more in keeping with Dr. T’Perro’s intention, if not her instructions.”

“Oh, I’ve always been a runner.  My dad got me into it when I was young - he said it was the best conditioning for soldiers.  I was thrilled that he was taking my intention of joining the Alliance seriously, even though I was only twelve, so I ran.”

“More likely, he was trying to find a way to get you to sit still for five minutes by tiring you out as quickly as he could manage.”  Evfra spoke feelingly, her constant fidgeting had been driving him to distraction for over a week now.

Ryder’s eyebrows rose.  “I can sit still!”

Evfra snorted.  “I’m sure; but it most likely requires cryostasis to achieve.”

“I’m hurt, Evfra.  Truly hurt.”  She raised one eyebrow, one side of her mouth curling up in a smile; her teasing expression belying the words.  “Are you implying that I distract you at work?”

“You are never still!  Always tapping, or humming under your breath, playing with your hair, or clicking your tongue in some random pattern!  How you manage to find the patience to be an effective sniper is beyond belief.”

She had stopped pacing, now, and her breathing had settled.  Crossing her arms over her chest, she studied him.  He seemed more relaxed than usual, less defensive.  Perhaps it was the darkness or the silence surrounding them.  Perhaps it was just that they were out of HQ, and he didn’t bear responsibility for everything out here.  Whatever the cause, it could only be good for him; since it also fell nicely in line with the moshae’s confidential request, Ryder was determined to encourage it.

She grinned, challengingly.  “I am an excellent sniper, your reports surely tell you that.  I suppose you would make an excellent sniper as well, you have all that practice sitting patiently behind a desk, after all.”  She widened her eyes, assuming an innocent expression.  “All you had to do was mention that I was annoying you, Evfra.  Just say the word, and I won’t fidget again for the rest of the time I’m here.”  

Evfra scowled, pride pricked, and swallowed the bait she cast before him without a single flutter of suspicion.

“I doubt that you can stop for a day, let alone the rest of your stay here.”

“A day?  You’re so sure?  Perhaps you would care to place a wager on that?”

He grinned confidently.  “Sounds interesting.  I will bet that you cannot be still for an entire work day.  If I win, you will keep the same work hours I do for a week.”  He added wryly, “Your excess energy will at least serve a purpose: it will give us an excellent chance at getting through the backlog of scout reports.”

Ryder smiled guilelessly.  “And if I win, you will join me for my morning and night runs for a week.”

Evfra barely even blinked before he nodded, certain that he would be winning this bet.  “Deal.”

Ryder extended her right hand, coaching him through a slightly awkward handshake.  “Deal.”

 

* * *

 

Evfra was generous, he offered Ryder the more comfortable chair from behind his desk for her day of being still.  

She accepted cheerfully, turned down his less generous offer of a cup of strong tea, and set to work.

Evfra watched her closely through the morning, waiting for her to break.  He was certain she would, despite the fact that she seemed utterly unconcerned by both his scrutiny and her enforced inactivity.  

It wasn’t until after they had returned from a brief lunch break that Evfra noticed how incredibly graceful Ryder was.

Normally, her motions flowed so rapidly one into the next that she seemed to be a constant blur of motion.  Today, as she moved precisely, and no more than was absolutely required, he saw the grace that was contained in her movements.  

Evfra realized guiltily that he had been watching her for longer than was appropriate, his own datapad ignored in his hand.  He shook himself, and turned his attention to his work.

It wasn’t until early evening that he started to be concerned about losing the bet.  Her steady, precise motions hadn’t altered at all throughout the day.  Her hair, neatly bound at the nape of her neck, had remained untouched the entire time they had been in his office.  Even when she had gotten some water from the small cooler in the corner of his office, she had moved with the same contained motions; when she returned to the desk, she sat so gently that the chair didn’t even squeak - as it always did when Evfra sat in it.  As the minutes counted down to the time she generally left his office for the day, Evfra grew more and more nervous.

Finally, Ryder finished the datapad she was reading, signed it, and set it aside; she looked up with a triumphant smile.  “Well, my work day is over.  Ready to concede?”

“Hmph.  Yes, you win.”  He added with ill disguised annoyance, “I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.”

Ryder grinned, and leaned back in the chair; relaxed, but still with the economy of movement he had been admiring all day.  “I told you I could do it.  You doubted my word.  I don’t know where you’ve been for the last year, but I can’t recall many times that I said I could do something and then didn’t manage it.  You had that information, and bet against it.  You lost.  Fairly.”

Evfra grumbled.  “Fine, fine.  You win.  Go on.”

Ryder grinned and stood up.  “Thank you.  I’ll see you tomorrow morning, 0430, for our first run.”

Evfra glanced at his omnitool, hoping the true translation of the time would prove to be less horrifying than his understanding.  It didn’t.  

“0430?  That’s… early.”

“Yeah, my CO here is sort of a hardass; got to be done and changed and back here before the morning briefing at 0700.”  She grinned and started for the door, each step a deliberate motion with only as much movement as it required.  Mocking him.  “Meet at the docks, it’s where I usually start.”

She stepped through the door to his office, and turned to wait for his confirmation.  When he had nodded grumpy agreement, she winked, and took off at a run.

Evfra could hear the surprised comments that followed her path to the doors of HQ; he shook his head, imagining the chaos she left in her wake.  

He sighed.  Running.  Twice a day for a week.  He hadn’t been in the field for years, he hoped he wouldn’t be too sore from all this activity.  

Perhaps he could consider it as a strategic loss; the memory of her graceful motions and teasing wink almost made losing worthwhile.

Then he remembered 0430 and groaned.  No, nothing was worth that.

 

* * *

 

Ryder was disgustingly chipper, considering the hour.  Evfra would have been the first to admit that he was never cheerful, but even taking that disparity into account, she was far too cheerful.  Stars, it was still dark!

Ryder ignored his scowls, valiantly refrained from calling him a sore loser, and left him to his stretches as she focused on her own.  When she was finished, she raised her eyebrows at him. 

“Ready?”  Her voice was full of energy and enthusiasm; she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, as if she couldn’t wait to be off.

“I suppose.”  His tone was surly, not at all pleased at the prospect he faced; he stood as if he’d taken root.

“Great!  Follow me, then!”  She set off on her usual course, which would carry her around every main path and each minor path in a winding pattern until it landed her back at the docks.  She set an easy pace, slightly slower than usual for a first lap, but still steady.

Evfra was annoyed at her casual assumption that he would follow meekly behind her, but it didn’t take long before he began to appreciate the benefits of his position as they ran.  He barely noticed their trip through the marketplace; he didn’t even spare any attention to be annoyed when her winding path took them up and down stairs more times than necessary.

When she just kept going, and going, and  _ going _ however, he lost interest in anything but keeping his breathing steady.

Finally, just as he was starting to gasp, they reached the docks again.  He was certain they had covered every inch of public ground, and she had certainly found some paths he couldn’t be sure he had seen before.  When they got back to the spot where they had started, Evfra stumbled to a halt and bent over, dragging deep and slightly ragged breaths.

He was pleased by how quickly he was able to straighten and meet Ryder’s eyes.  She seemed barely winded, but he pushed the thought away.  She was jogging slowly in place, watching him.  When he looked up at her, she raised her eyebrows questioningly.  He summoned patience, he had a week of this to look forward to, after all, and he refused to give her the satisfaction of complaining about it.

“That was… invigorating, Ryder.  I don’t think I’ve been on some of those paths you found in years, if ever.”

“Invigorating?”  Ryder snorted a laugh.   “That was just the warm up.  Come on, we’ve got two more laps to go, and we’re going to have to pick up the pace if we’re going to make the morning briefing on time!”

She turned and started off; Evfra stared after her in dismay.  She had indeed picked up the pace.  

As he summoned his flagging energy and started after her, he considered.  He wouldn’t have to worry about the morning briefing, the lost bet, or the reports if he dropped dread on this morning run.  Plus, it would cause a very satisfying diplomatic incident, and all sorts of trouble for Ryder.  

The idea sustained him through the second lap.  He had very nearly composed the press briefing about the valiant Resistance Leader’s demise at the hands of the insane Pathfinder who literally ran him to death.  They reached the docks again, and Ryder glanced at her omnitool.

“No time for a rest, we’re behind.  Guess we’ll have to start earlier tomorrow, or go faster.  Maybe both.”  She sounded almost pleased at the prospect.  “Come on!”

He gaped after her, she was moving even faster now.  He wondered bitterly if Jaal was ever subjected to exercising with Ryder on the Tempest.  When she noticed he wasn’t following, Ryder turned around and began jogging backwards.  Her voice floated back to him on the still air, filled with amusement.

“In your own time, Mr. de Tershaav!”

Evfra scowled and followed her into their third lap.  This time, he didn’t have enough energy to pursue the satisfying daydream, or any other thoughts besides forcing air into his straining lungs.  

Fortunately, he also failed to notice the shocked looks cast on him by the early rising souls in Aya’s Marketplace.


	3. Chapter 3

Ryder was smugly contemplating how stiffly Evfra had moved in the morning briefing today, when one of his aids came into the office and handed her a datapad.  They’d been for three runs so far, and though he covered it fairly well, she was sure he was feeling the effects.  He had nearly groaned when his calendar reminded him of his meeting with the moshae this morning - in  _ her  _ office.  Ryder had settled into her chair at his desk and leaned back comfortably with an exaggerated sigh as he left - several minutes earlier than usual - for the meeting.

Surprisingly, the datapad she’d been handed was a message from the moshae, asking Ryder to come to her office directly.  Shrugging, Ryder started out at a quick walk, wondering what the moshae wanted with her.

Moshae Sjefa greeted Ryder herself, in the foyer of her office.  She was frowning, and she was alone.  Ryder felt her eyebrows rising as she looked around for Evfra.

“Pathfinder Ryder.  When I asked you to see to it that Evfra had a chance to relax a bit, and get a proper amount of rest, this is not the result I was expecting!”

She sounded amused, rather than annoyed, so Ryder tipped her head to the side and waited, curious.  Moshae Sjefa led the way through her office to the small veranda beyond it, motioning to Ryder for quiet.  There on the veranda, Evfra occupied a comfortably padded chair, his arms crossed over his chest in his usual pose.  Unusually, his chin rested on his chest, and he was snoring slightly. 

Ryder’s eyes widened, and she turned to the moshae.  Seeing that Moshae Sjefa wasn’t annoyed - she was, in fact, smiling fondly as she looked at Evfra - had Ryder setting her hand firmly across her mouth to silence her giggles.  They left as quietly as they’d approached, and walked back through the moshae’s office to the foyer.

“What have you done to the leader of the Resistance, Ryder?  I asked him to wait for only a few moments, and this is what I find.”

Ryder snickered.  “I won a bet.  The penalty is that he has to join me on my morning and evening runs for a week.  This is only the second day.”

Moshae Sjefa’s expression settled somewhere between baffled and impressed.  “A bet?  I won’t ask.  I do need him to be functional during normal hours, however.”

“Would you like me to wake him up?”

That earned her a chuckle from the moshae.  “No, you go on back, I’ll handle it.  Don’t tell him you were here.”

Ryder nodded and turned to leave when the moshae’s words called her back.

“I hope you won’t push him too hard, Ryder.  His self-esteem is a hard-won thing, but fragile for all that.”

Ryder stared at her for a moment, certain that Efvra wouldn’t thank the moshae for telling her this, and surprised that Sjefa had shared it anyway.

“Just hard enough that he doesn’t have an excuse to give up on it.  Don’t worry, he is in excellent shape, though rather out of condition, he’ll manage.  Besides, he can’t worry things to death while he’s running; I doubt he has enough energy left to do anything but fall into bed at the end of the day - which is far earlier than he’s used to, by the way, I’ve set our evening runs for a decent time, instead of the early morning when he usually leaves the office.”

Moshae Sjefa nodded, apparently satisfied.  “I do trust you, Ryder, or I would not have asked you to help with this.”

Ryder smiled, and tossed her a mock salute before heading back to Resistance HQ.

 

* * *

 

Evfra arrived more than an hour later, looking rested but harried.  He muttered something about his meeting with the moshae running longer than expected as he came in; Ryder gave a vague wave and kept her nose buried in the supply requests she was working on.  

When her stomach informed her that it was time for lunch, Ryder set her datapad down firmly and stood up.  Leaning over the desk, she plucked Evfra’s datapad from his hands, smiling cheerfully at his outraged expression.

“Come on, lunch time!”

“I will eat while I work.”  As if to support this claim, he pulled a ration bar out of a drawer and set it on the desk in front of him.  Ryder picked it up again, examined the wrapping and wrinkled her nose.

“Nope, not good enough.  You’re burning far more calories than usual, you need to replace them.  Come on, I’ll buy you lunch.” 

Evfra remained seated, scowling at her.  Ryder offered him her sweetest smile; to his credit he looked immediately wary.

“If you don’t eat properly, you won’t make it through the day.  Unless you want to fall asleep at your desk?”

She walked around the desk, ignoring his suddenly guilty expression, and dragged his chair out.

“Lunch, Evfra.  In the tavetaan, thank you, not at your desk.  How you don’t have indigestion on a daily basis is a mystery - or it was, until I realized you were eating those ration bars as if they were real food or something.”

He growled in the back of his throat, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her, daring her to drag him from his chair.  Ryder simply arched an eyebrow, and leaned back against the wall, crossing her own arms to mirror his pose.  Leaning comfortably, she watched him patiently.

He turned back to his desk, determined to ignore her, and picked up the datapad again.  He turned it on, resisting the urge to look warily over his shoulder at her.  Taking a deep breath, he settled his shoulders and started reading.

After several minutes, he heard movement behind him.  Hoping that she had given up, Evfra hunched his shoulders and kept his eyes fixed on the datapad.  He annoyed, but not exactly surprised, when it was plucked from his grasp a second time. 

Setting the datapad aside, Ryder leaned over his shoulder, one hand braced on his desk.  When Evfra turned to frown at her, she was disconcertingly close.  She smiled cheerfully at his annoyed sigh.  He pushed his chair away from the desk to put some space between them.

Seemingly oblivious to his annoyance, Ryder took advantage of his move by hopping up to sit on his desk.  Swinging her legs slightly, she grinned at him, unconcerned by his scowl.

“So, about that lunch!”

“I do not have time to go eat lunch at the tavetaan.”

Ryder's grin turned into a smirk.  “Ahhh, but do you have time  _ not _ to eat lunch at the tavetaan?”

“That makes no sense, Ryder.”

“Sure it does.  I can guarantee that you won't get any work done until after lunch, so all you're doing now is wasting precious time.”

Evfra grumbled, but stood up.  “Fine.  Lunch at the tavetaan.”  He leaned past Ryder to pick up a datapad.  “But a working lunch.  This one involves some of your settlers on Voeld.”

Ryder considered for a moment, then nodded.  She hopped down from the desk, a move which left her standing in the too-small space between the desk and Evfra.

His thoughts skewed sideways; a deep breath from either of them would close the slight space between them.  He fought against a sudden powerful urge to take that breath.

He was still staring at her, his thoughts jumping ahead to suggest that if he leaned down just a bit, he could capture her lips in a kiss, when she slipped away and started for the door.  He blinked, shaking his head to rid it of the wayward thoughts.  He was standing there, motionless, when Ryder reached the door and turned back.

“Evfra?  Lunch?”  His eyes snapped to her face.  She grinned, teasing now.  “In your own time, Mr. de Tershaav.”  That earned her an annoyed snort, but he finally started toward the door, and followed her dutifully to the tavetaan for lunch.

 

* * *

 

He refused to admit that the afternoon was more productive following a real meal than it would have been otherwise.  The walk wasn’t long, and Ryder’s chatter was amusing enough.  Despite his stated intention of working during lunch, and the fact that he kept nudging the datapad suggestively, she kept the conversation on commonplaces.  She was perfectly happy to do all the talking; though she paused occasionally for his reaction, or to give him an opportunity to comment, she was blithely unconcerned by his disinclination to do so.  She required nothing of him that he was unwilling to give, and he found the meal rather more enjoyable than he had expected.

They had worked steadily after lunch, and mostly in silence.  Evfra kept his attention firmly focused on his work, and was mostly successful in avoiding the realization that this focus required more effort today than it usually did.  When Ryder set aside her datapad and stood up, indulging in a long stretch, he was surprised to discover that it was fairly late already.  

“Well, that’s it for me today.  I’ll see you down at the docks in an hour for our run.”

She was out the door before he could object.

When he arrived at the docks an hour later, she was already there going through her stretches, much to the appreciation of the few loitering dock workers.  Evfra’s scowl deepened.  He started his own stretches, wincing as little as possible.

“Ryder.  I am… unfortunately out of shape… perhaps we should skip this run?”

“My very first day in Basic training, back on earth, I got the best advice of my career.  When it comes to conditioning, the best solution for sore muscles is more of what made them sore.”  She smiled at his groan - rather heartlessly, in his opinion - before continuing.  “Come on, you’re actually in great shape, or you couldn’t keep up.  You’re just out of condition, that’s all.  Easily solved.”  He barely had time to wonder if that had been a compliment, before she started jogging away from him.

“Come along, warm up lap.  We’ll start slow.”  Sighing in resignation, he started after her.

He refused to admit it, despite her repeated questions about how he was doing, but she’d been correct.  By the time they finished the first lap, he was moving much more easily, and breathing evenly enough.   She led into the second lap without a pause, picking up the pace slightly.

He was feeling pretty good by then, so he started pushing the pace; keeping so close to her that he was in danger of stepping on her heals.  She looked at him over her shoulder, took in his challenging expression and smiled, picking the pace up again.  He followed for a few minutes, then - still moving easily and breathing deeply but steadily - he pushed her again, running right behind her.

This time, she favored him with an incredulous look, but when he didn’t back off, she shrugged, and stepped up the pace again.  He finished the lap, revelling in the certainty that he was pushing her limits as much as she’d pushed his.

They were just starting the third lap when Evfra made a tactical error.  He was feeling tired, but nothing like the panting mess he’d been at this point in their first run, so he moved up again, and edged in front of her.  He set a pace that he was confident he could keep - if only barely - for the rest of the lap.  It was the last lap of the evening, after all, and he wasn’t concerned about exhausting himself.

Pleased that he had successfully challenged her, he made the mistake of glancing back at her with a smirk.

Ryder was wearing a wide-eyed, politely incredulous expression that immediately made him nervous, despite the redness of her cheeks.  He had just long enough to hope (optimistically) that the meaning would be something along the lines of  _ you must be feeling good! _ before she destroyed his complacency.  

She smiled, then put on just enough speed to pull up next to him.  It took a bit of doing, but she matched his strides exactly, settling into the slightly awkward rhythm without much obvious struggle.  She was close enough now that her pumping arm brushed his with every other stride.  She glanced over, and gave him the same wide-eyed look from a moment ago.

This time, he had better luck decoding it.  Not ‘ _ you must be feeling good _ ,’ at all.  No, this look said,  _ ‘I cannot believe you just did that.’   _ Too late, he realized his mistake.  With their strides matched exactly as she ran beside him, it would be instantly and painfully apparent if he failed to maintain the pace that he had set.  

Somehow, he finished the lap without faltering.  When they reached the docks again, they both spent several minutes pacing slowly and getting their breath back.  Evfra watched Ryder, expecting her to make some cutting comment about his less-than-successful challenge.

She did nothing of the sort, though surely she felt his eyes on her.  When her breathing had settled, she picked up the water bottles she’d left here when they started and tossed one at him.  Evfra caught it easily, watching as Ryder took a long drink.

He was just lifting the bottle to his lips when Ryder finally spoke.

“Good run; I told you you were in good shape.  We’ll have to pick up the pace a bit more tomorrow.  Don’t push too hard, or you really will hurt yourself.  See you at 0430!”

With a friendly wave, she walked away, leaving Evfra to splutter on his water.  Compliment, threat, teasing, all in less than a minute.

She was a whirlwind - even while standing still.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erg, I couldn't seem to avoid a little bit of angst, no matter how hard I try. Blame Evfra!

Somehow, he had survived the week.  Evfra leaned back in his chair, his office blissfully deserted for the moment, and stretched, not bothering to hide his satisfied smile.  He felt good.  Ryder had proved - annoyingly - to be correct; more exercise had indeed diminished the soreness in his muscles.  

Hearing the surprised exclamations that usually followed Ryder through Resistance HQ - since she never just walked like a normal person - Evfra had time to straighten and pick up a datapad before she entered his office.

In typical Ryder style, she bounced across the room, already speaking as she entered, and flung herself into her chair on the far side of his desk, grinning unrepentantly at his annoyed huff.

“I got a message from Jaal.  The poachers on Voeld won’t be a problem anymore.  It wasn’t a full report, so I don’t know everything, but he said it’s handled, and won’t be starting up again.”

Evfra growled, though it was rather halfhearted.  “Jaal used to be capable of composing a thorough report, you know.  It is only since he started traveling with you that his communications have become so vague.  I suspect he had to do a great deal of editing while he was reporting on your activities, and the habit has remained.”

Ryder laughed.  “I suspect he did.  But at least this way, you don’t have to spend much time on his reports, right?  Think of it as reducing your workload.  The problem is solved, and it only took two minutes to find out about it.  Win-win.”

She picked up a datapad, most likely using it to conceal another smile at his expense as well as an excuse to avoid his perfectly rational argument about the undesirability of vague field reports, regardless of his workload.  He watched her for another moment, wary of a sudden return to the topic; when she remained absorbed in her datapad, he shook his head and returned his own wandering attention to his work.

Suddenly Ryder looked up.  “Hey, who  _ is  _ your second in command?”

“I do not have one.  There are several senior Resistance members who would most likely take over the Resistance if something happened to me, but there is no single second in command.  Why?”

“Well, it occurred to me that you ought to be pushing most, if not all, of this stuff off on your XO.”  She waved an expressive hand at the endless stacks of datapads requiring attention.

“I do not have so many soldiers available that I can tie someone up with this, Ryder.  I must have the information, so I read the reports.  If I passed the work to someone else, they would simply have to tell me what I can read for myself.”

Ryder rolled her eyes.  “You are  _ such _ a control freak.  You could certainly have someone - even a civilian assistant - go through all this, and work you up a sheet with just the highlights.”

“No.  Something might be missed.”

“You have to learn to delegate, Evfra!”  She was leaning forward in her chair, smiling earnestly. 

“No.  The system I have works.”

Ryder flopped back in her chair, she held both hands up between them, and flipped her palms around to face him; a gesture he had learned meant that she was done arguing, though not conceding the point.  “Fine, fine.  Your loss.”

Just then, her omnitool beeped and she bounced out of her chair, saving him from deciding whether he should try to convince her of his point, or let the matter drop.  She rarely changed her mind, though she would prolong an argument just for the thrill of the debate - and, he suspect, the thrill of seeing if she could rile him up.  The answer was generally yes.

“That’s my day.  I’ll see you in an hour, yes?  Last run of the bet.  Any chance you’ll be joining me by choice after this?”

Evfra blinked.  He hadn’t considered continuing joining her; he hadn’t considered that she would invite his presence.  Then he recalled 0430 and snorted.  

“I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.”

Much to his surprise, her face fell, a disappointed expression he had no trouble deciphering after all the time they’d been spending together.  He added hastily, “But perhaps the evening runs?”

That brought her smile back easily enough.  When had he developed this power to make her smile?  And since when did he care whether or not she was pleased?  He shook the thoughts away to focus on her answer.

“Well, I suppose… if you’re going to be a  _ slacker _ about it.  See you in an hour!”  She was out the door without giving him a chance to reply.

He stared after her, considering how gratified he’d felt to be the cause of her smile.  That was… odd.  Pushing the tangle of emotions away - as always - in favor of work, he turned his attention back to requisition requests from the Resistance members setting up a cautious presence on Kadara.

 

* * *

 

Slightly more than an hour later, Efvra hustled out of his office and toward the doors of HQ.  Stubbornly, he maintained a brisk but steady walk; he refused to dash through his base like Ryder did.  

He was late.  He considered sending Ryder a message to warn her, and discarded the idea - she would only tease him for it.  He considered sprinting home to change, and discarded this idea as well - she was likely to make the most of this, her last opportunity to have him at her mercy, and he didn’t want to arrive at the docks already winded.

He was hurrying down the stairs when he heard his name called.  Looking around, he saw Ryder standing there.  She wasn’t dressed as she had been while they were working, neither was she wearing the clothing she ran in.  Instead she was wearing a long floating skirt and a shirt that showed off her toned arms.  

“Evfra!  I thought that we could skip the run tonight, and celebrate the fact that you survived the week with dinner instead.”

Although she presented the idea as fact, he could see from the slight tip of her head and her arched eyebrow that she was leaving the decision up to him.  He hesitated.  They had been sharing lunch at the tavetaan the entire week, but somehow this felt different.  He considered Ryder, standing there on the steps of Resistance HQ, smiling at him and waiting patiently for him to make up his mind.

Without thinking about it too much, Evfra nodded.  

“That would be acceptable.  I should change first, however.”

Her smile was instant and brilliant.  “Sure!  I’ll meet you there, shall I?”  Without waiting for his agreement, Ryder moved off.  

The walk back to his home left Evfra with plenty of time to consider all the reasons this was a bad idea.  He hated eating in the tavetaan, the expectation of social conversation with whoever else was there - and at this hour, it would be quite busy - grated on his nerves.  The insistent press of bioelectric fields made him uncomfortable at the best of times; in the highly social atmosphere of the crowded tavetaan, the pressure would be worse as the other patrons pushed their emotions on him and attempted to read his in return.  

Plus, there was the one point he thought would bother even Ryder: in a casual setting, he was likely to be interrupted quite often with random requests and demands.  They had mostly escaped that particular annoyance at lunch, simply because most of the other patrons had also been there on all-too-short lunch breaks.  This evening would provide no such protection, however.

Evfra considered messaging Ryder and changing his mind.  But the memory of her smile when he accepted floated before his mind’s eye, and he knew he couldn’t let her down.  Whatever her reason for wanting his company, it was not in his power to deny it to her.  He really hoped the evening wouldn’t be too uncomfortable, though.

 

* * *

 

When he arrived at the tavetaan, one of the employees was waiting to show him to Ryder’s table; despite the number of people present, she had procured a table on a raised viewing platform.  Set slightly away from the rest of the tables, surrounded on two sides with lush, well tended foliage and on the third side with a view of the planet, it seemed almost peaceful.  Evfra sat down, cautiously optimistic.

The first few moments were occupied with menus and ordering; once those niceties were completed, a short silence fell between them.  As it grew, Evfra shifted nervously.  Would she expect him to speak?  What should he speak of?  Work?  That seemed… wrong for the setting and situation, but what else did he know anything about?

Ryder seemed perfectly happy to fill the silence, however.  Her conversation was light, and though she didn’t press him to speak, she didn’t seem to be chattering endlessly, either.  Silences fell, and Ryder was as at ease with them here as she was in his office.  Slowly, Efvra relaxed, surprised and gratified to find that she didn’t expect him to be something he wasn’t; she was willing to take him as himself without pushing for more.

Occasionally, other guests of the tavetaan found their way to the secluded table, and Ryder’s  easy manner was of benefit here as well.  Though most of those who approached addressed Evfra, Ryder smoothly intervened without ever seeming to be shielding him or speaking for him.  These interruptions were generally brief, and Evfra never found himself pressured into accepting more work, or pressed too much for explanations or confidences he wasn’t willing to share.

As they ate, the light faded from the sky.  When the server came by to offer to light the lamps around their table, Ryder waved him off, letting the gentle darkness envelope them.  How had she known that he would prefer it?

A silence fell as their plates were cleared away.  Ryder had her forearms on the table, leaning forward slightly as she shredded a leaf that had drifted down onto their table from one of the overhanging plants.  Her eyes, not as efficient in the dark as his own, were on her fingers, squinting slightly; Evfra, with superior night vision, was studying her face, growing gradually more aware of a reason for his unexpected ease in her company.

She didn’t have a bioelectric field.  At all.  Even with his own bioelectrics held closely in check, never extending past his own skin, he felt the insistent brushes from everyone around him.  Angara were social by nature, and a large part of that was the silent sharing of emotions through their bioelectric fields.  He had set himself apart early on in his career with the Resistance by refusing that contact with everyone around him.  He had no desire to feel their emotions or share his own, but no one seemed to understand that; outside of the Resistance, he was always deluged by helpful and hopeful acquaintances,  attempting to urge him toward more socially acceptable behavior. 

With Ryder, that pressure was nonexistent.  She had no possible way of doing likewise, to be fair, but based on her conversation, he was fairly certain that she wouldn’t have imposed on his desire for privacy even if she had been capable of it.

Evfra leaned back in his chair, relaxing further as this realization led to the next: he never needed to expect that she would suddenly start pushing him the way everyone else did.  It simply wasn’t who she was.

Ryder looked up at his movement and grinned; it was the uneven grin she often wore when she was about to tease him - one side of her mouth curled higher than the other, one eyebrow raised.

“So, Evfra.  What’s up with Avela?”

Evfra blinked, confused as much by the question as by the phrasing.  He remembered the young curator as one of the more persistent arrivals at their table, but he had no idea what about her visit had prompted this strange question.

“Up... with her?  What does this mean?”

“I mean, what’s the story with her?”

“She is the curator for the museum, Ryder.  Surely you have met her before?”

“I have, yes.  I know her professional story.  I meant what's her story… with you?”

“She has no story with me.”

Ryder’s eyebrows twitched downwards.  “I mean, are the two of you involved?”

“Involved?”  He echoed, hoping for some idea of what she was getting at.  A sudden suspicion, based more on that teasing smiling than her words.  “Do you mean romantically?”

Ryder grinned, her eyes flicking to his face and quickly away.  “Yes, romantically.”

“Certainly not.”

“Not?  Not now, or not ever?”

“Not ever!”  He was more emphatic than was flattering to the curator, but it seemed to relieve some tension in Ryder that he couldn’t explain.

“Ah.  She’s… interested… you know.”  At his silence, she added apologetically.  “You didn’t know.”

“I did not.  However, her interest is irrelevant, as I do not return it.”

Ryder’s gaze sharpened.  “Why not?  Isn’t she attractive?  I know she’s intelligent, and friendly.”

Evfra scowled slightly.  “She is not… what I am looking for in a… partner.”

Fortunately, Ryder let the subject drop, offering an easy smile to soothe his annoyance, and turning the conversation to other things.  

 

* * *

 

They sat until the server had politely asked them several times if they wanted anything else.  Even without a sense of what the young anagara was feeling, Ryder took the hint that he wanted to finish with his last guests and be off.  She smiled, paid for dinner before Evfra even started to consider the  _ should I, shouldn’t I, what would it mean _ tangle, and stood.

“I appreciate your company this evening, Ryder.”  Feeling awkward as they started back to the residential areas of Aya, he added,  “The evening was not as unpleasant as I had expected.”

Ryder gasped a laugh at that.  “Wow, Evfra.  Such a compliment!  No wonder you have a reputation for being such a sweet talker.”

Evfra stared at her, catching a clear look at her face as they passed under a hanging light.  She was amused, but there was an edge to her smile that he had never seen there before and couldn’t name.  Belatedly, he realized how his comment would have sounded to her.

“Ah.  I did not mean it that way.  I just… do not often go out, socially.”

Ryder’s smile lost the undefinable edge and she glanced up at him.  “Well, and why not?  If Avela is any indication, you could have company if you wished it.”  

Evfra shrugged, uncomfortable with giving her the whole truth, but still finding and unexpected desire to answer her instead of brushing her off.  He settled for repeating what he had told her earlier.  “I have not found what I’m looking for, in a partner.  I do not expect to find it.”

Ryder drew a deep breath, hesitating before asking the next question.  “What is it that you’re looking for?”

“Someone who will accept who I am.  Who will not be offended if I do not behave like others.  Someone who is not repulsed by me, or by my anti-social behavior.”  At Ryder’s indrawn breath, as if she might argue the point with him, he added hastily, “Someone whose safety is not my responsibility.”  

Evfra blinked.  He hadn’t meant to be quite that honest, hadn’t meant to let her see that close to the core of who he was.  His inability to protect his family so many years ago had informed all his choices since then: from turning the Resistance into something that was actually effective against the kett; to the way he held himself apart from everyone, but especially those who would be his friends; even his refusal to delegate responsibility - it all stemmed from his fear and grief over that long-ago loss.

Ryder was silent for several moments; nervously, Evfra paced beside her in silence.  Unable to bring himself to look at her face, afraid of seeing pity or disgust there, he fixed his eyes ahead, willing them to reach his home quickly so he could escape.  Almost there, he could see his door.

Finally, her head tipped to one side, Ryder said, “So.  Likes who you are; doesn’t expect you to be like everyone else; likes you and your grumpy behavior; perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and not under your command.  That about cover it?”

They had reached his door now; Evfra paused awkwardly, torn between an abrupt farewell and quick escape, and actually finishing the conversation in the hope that she would never bring it up again.  Sighing, he decided the first option was cowardly, and braced himself for the conversation.  He straightened until he was standing almost at attention, his hands clasped behind his back; he tipped his head slightly to the side and met her eyes.

“Yes.  It does.”  It was a tactic that worked well with his subordinates: short answers, closed statements.  Not defensive, that would only make her push more questions at him; better to let the discomfort come from her, so she would want to drop the subject.

Ryder’s eyes flicked over him, silently assessing, and he had to fight the urge to squirm.  She had command experience as well, perhaps she knew what he was doing?  Would she be more or less willing to pursue the topic, if that were the case.  Suddenly, she stepped forward, closing the distance between them and invading his personal space.

“Evfra?”  Her gaze locked on his, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  He was shocked when she set her hand on his shoulder; shocked didn’t begin to cover what he felt at her next words.  

“I like you, grumpiness and all.  I don’t have any expectations of how angara ‘should’ behave, so your behavior isn’t strange to me.  My safety is in no way your responsibility, I do not take orders from you, and I think you know that I am more than capable of taking care of myself.”

Evfra would have sworn that his heart stopped in that moment.  Or perhaps time stopped, entirely.  He stared at her, his mind awhirl with thoughts he couldn’t catch or make sense of.  Could she possibly be saying what he thought she was saying?

He stared at her, willing her to make a clear answer.  She stood there, though, not moving and not speaking.  Letting him decide their next step, he realized.  His gaze ran over her face: alien features, alien color, alien shape.  Despite that, he admitted to himself that he found her attractive.  And if he found human features attractive, then wasn’t it possible that she felt the same way about angaran features?  Different, but no less attractive for that.  

Ah, there was the sticking point.

She may well find angaran features attractive, but she couldn’t possibly find  _ his _ angaran features attractive.  He was well aware of how poorly he measured up against other males of his species.  Permanent scar marring his face, permanent scowl likewise.  He was short, and less broad than most other males.  Harsh voice, self-crippled bioelectric field.  No, there was no way she could find  _ him _ attractive.

He explained these points to her, using as few words as possible, and was surprised when her eyes narrowed angrily.

“You… you  _ jerk _ !”  The hand on his shoulder balled into a fist, and she thumped it against him to give emphasis to her words.  “You self-absorbed  _ twit _ .  Since when are you the arbiter of what I find attractive?  I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions, thank you very much.  And I happen to like your voice, and your eyes, and your  _ mind.   _ Or, I  _ used to _ until you used it to think up such horrible things about yourself.”

He blinked in surprise.  “You do?  You did?”  Incredulously, “You meant it?”

She sighed, the flash of anger draining away.  “I do.  I did.  Yes.”

She met his gaze, took a deep breath and released the last of her annoyance.  “Shall I prove it to you?”

He believed her; as unlikely as it was, he believed her.  He almost refused, even so, the drive to protect himself stronger than his desire for her.  But Ryder smiled at him, bright and direct, and he couldn’t remember any of the reasons why this would be a bad idea.  Instead, he nodded, and led the way through his front door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted an extra bit for these two, called Side Effects. It takes place between Chapter 4 and 5. It got pretty feelings-y, though, which was not my goal with this story, so I banished it. ;-)

She loved him.  She had said so, and with an unfamiliar feeling of complete trust, he believed her.

Before his thoughts could get any further, his comm beeped at him.  Glancing at the time, he swore and looked at Ryder.

“We have missed the morning briefing.”

Ryder attempted to look concerned about this, but couldn’t keep the grin off her face.  She reached out and ran her hand lightly down the side of his face before leaning over and kissing him.

“For a very good cause, though.”

Evfra huffed a laugh.  “Indeed.  But what am I going to  _ tell _ them?  I have never missed a briefing.”

Ryder shrugged.  “Why tell them anything?”

“They will ask.  They will be concerned, and if they do not get an acceptable answer, they will go to the moshae.”  He shuddered at the thought of explaining this to  _ her _ .

“So, tell them you’re sick.”  

Evfra’s scowl deepened.  “That would be a lie.”

Ryder grinned, the bright, sharp-edged grin that meant he had walked into her verbal trap.  The warning came too late.

“So tell them you were screwing the human Pathfinder.”

That made him splutter, half amused and half horrified at the thought.  “I can  _ not _ tell them that!”

Ryder shrugged, completely unconcerned.  “That’s ok.  I can.”

The amused half vanished.  Now the idea was purely horrifying.  Unfortunately, he had no doubt that she would do so.  She made a motion as if she was about to get out of bed; her grabbed her and pulled her back, pinning her beneath him to prevent her escape.

“No!”  He said it more emphatically than he had meant to, and lowered his voice guiltily.  “No, please do not.  Perhaps I can simply tell them that I planned to take the day off, and forgot to mention it.”

Ryder smiled lazily at him, lifting one leg to wrap around his hip.  A roll of her own hips made her skin slide enticingly against his, and he promptly lost his train of thought.

“Week.”

Evfra blinked, lifting his head from her neck where he’d been kissing the delightfully sensitive skin over her pulse point, and tried to yank his attention back to the conversation.  “What?”  

“Tell them you’re taking the week off.”

“I cannot take a week off, Ryder.”  He attempted to sound confident in this protest, but she ran her hands down his back, cupping his ass and pulling him firmly against her while he spoke and his words trailed off in a moan.

“You can take a week off.  Don’t you want to?  We could stay right here, for a whole week…”  Her voice was low and seductive, her breath warm against his shoulder.

“I should not…”

She hooked her arm around his neck and drew his face to her, her tongue tracing lightly over his lips.  He tied to kiss her properly, but she stayed just out of reach, her eyes on his and her eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Yes, alright.  A week.  I’ll tell them.  Later…”

 

* * *

 

Moshae Sjefa had just returned to her office and settled behind her desk when her door swished open and a very agitated form rushed through it.  She lifted her eyebrows, and smiled a greeting.

“Jaal!  What a pleasant surprise it is to see you here.  I thought you were stationed on Voeld?”

He brushed off this greeting, his voice tight with concern.  “What has happened?  Is Evfra alright?  Is Ryder?  What is going on?”

The moshae reflected that it was a good thing she was so practiced in maintaining a calm demeanor, or she might have offended Jaal by laughing at him.

“They are both quite well.  Why do you ask?”

“Quite well?  You can tell me the truth!  I want to help!”

She repeated her question serenely, her tone unchanged.  “Why do you ask?”

“Why?  Because I submitted a request for some particular supplies, and was told it would have to wait until Evfra returned!  I naturally asked where he was, and if perhaps Ryder could approve the request, and was told that they were both on leave!  Personal leave!”

“That hardly seems like cause for concern.”

“For anyone else, perhaps not.  But for Ryder?  And  _ Evfra _ ?  It could only be misinformation to hide what they were really up to.”

Moshae Sjefa chuckled softly, her nod acknowledging the truth of this statement.  She motioned him to a chair, and waited patiently while he flung himself into it.

“I understand your thoughts.  However, in this case your concern is unfounded.  You know that I requested Ryder’s presence here, do you not?”

Jaal nodded warily at the apparent change of subject.

She continued, “Well, besides teaching the Initiative and the Resistance to work together, I was hoping that Ryder could perhaps teach Evfra how to… how shall I put this?... not work himself into a wraith.”

Jaal snorted.  “And you wanted  _ Ryder _ to give lessons about not overworking?  That is madness.  If anything, she most likely gave him tips about how to work even harder.  The woman never rests.”

Moshae Sjefa shrugged expressively.  “And yet, he has taken time off.”

“Yes...”  Jaal muttered.  “Something must be wrong.  I will look into this.”  He stood, turning to leave with as much haste as he had arrived.

“I do not think that is necessary,” she called at his retreating back.  He simply waved her off as he disappeared from the foyer.  “Or particularly wise,” she added, though she knew he was long out of hearing range.

 

* * *

 

Evfra was propped comfortably in his bed, leaning against the wall with his feet stretched out in front of him, sneaking a look at his messages while Ryder showered.  When the water shut off, he hastily closed the messages and prepared to be entertained by her appearance.  

Their week had stretched to two, and he was tempted to stretch it again as the end of the second week was fast approaching.  They had indeed spent the time in his home, rarely leaving it.  They had talked, and watched vids, and talked, and made love.  They had put the large shower in his bathroom to better use than he had previously made of it throughout all the years he had lived here.  

Much to his delight, he had been successful in talking Ryder into doing nearly all these things without clothes.  That she had required a reciprocal willingness from him had slowly stopped being a source of distress; his feelings had gradually morphed into acceptance of her frequently demonstrated desire for him, and finally into a tentative pleasure at her appreciation.

She was just stepping from the bathroom, wearing nothing more than a towel around her head, when the entry request chime at his door sounded.  He blinked at it, then at her.  Ryder shrugged, and Evfra stood up, making his way to the door and checking the security vid display next to it to see who his visitor was.

He turned back to her in shock and whispered hoarsely.  “It is Jaal!”

Ryder smiled, pleased at the prospect of seeing her teammate, and seeming entirely unconcerned at the state of undress he would find them in.  Before Evfra could voice his own very real concern about that, the chime sounded again, this time followed by Jaal’s voice.

“Evfra!  I know you are at home.  Answer the door.”

Evfra rolled his eyes, and directed his voice back toward the door.  “In a moment, please, Jaal.  I am not dressed for visitors.”

He watched the vid screen as Jaal crossed his arms, considering this.  “Fine, but don’t take too long or I will suspect that something is amiss, and act accordingly.”

“Yes, yes,” Evfra grumbled, not quite loudly enough for the security speaker to pick up.  He hurried back to the bedroom, ushering Ryder in ahead of him, and started pulling on clothes.  Ryder watched him with an amused glance, eyebrows raised, as she put her own clothes on.

“What are you doing?”

She favored him with a smirk, but answered evenly.  “I know we’re somewhat out of practice lately, but I should think it was obvious.  I’m getting dressed.  Unless you’d rather I go out there naked?”

“No!  Promise you will not!”  When she just grinned at him, he added, “Please, just stay here until I send him away.”

Before she could answer - or more likely, argue the point - the door chime sounded again.  He hissed, “Stay here!” at her, before hurrying to answer it carefully closing the bedroom door behind him.

He opened the door, trying to maintain an expression that was not the goofy smile he suspected he’d been wearing lately, nor a too-angry scowl at the unwanted interruption.

“Jaal.  I thought you were on Voeld.”

Jaal smiled easily at that, brushing past Evfra into the entryway.  

“So I keep hearing.  I came though, because I was concerned about you.  And Ryder.  I was told you have both taken personal leave.  Evfra, are you ill?”

Evfra scowled, that was rather direct, even for Jaal.  His answer, though completely truthful, lacked conviction.

“No.  I am not ill.  I just… wanted to take some time off.”

Jaal clearly wasn’t convinced, his concern deepening.  “Has something happened?  Some trouble?  Something with Ryder?  Tell me you did not insult her.”

“No!  No, nothing like that.  I just… wanted to…” he trailed off, uncertain how to explain things.

Jaal’s expression darkened.  “Do not lie to me, Evfra.  Whatever has happened, you can tell me the truth.”

Before Evfra could formulate an answer for that, a new voice joined the conversation.

“Oh!  Well, if we’re going with the truth!”  

Evfra spun, hoping frantically that Ryder hadn’t followed up on her half-threat of appearing without her clothing.  His sigh of relief at seeing her dressed innocently enough in her standard civvies was cut off when she continued.

“Nothing’s wrong with either of us.  We’ve been passing the time quite pleasantly.”

Evfra was shaking his head, frantically; Jaal looked back and forth between them with a confused expression, trying to puzzle his way through it.  

“He wanted the truth, Evfra.”  She added with a wide-eyed look of completely feigned innocence,  “don’t you think he deserves it?”

Jaal’s expression cleared, he obviously trusted the Pathfinder to answer honestly.  Evfra groaned softly.  Ryder didn’t even meet Evfra’s eyes before smiling brightly at Jaal, waving a hand between herself and Evfra.

“We’ve been screwing.”

Despite his desire for the truth, this answer seemed to short-circuit Jaal’s brain.  He spoke without thinking.  

“But you’ve been on leave for two weeks!”

Evfra snorted, and stormed off to the living room.  

Ryder just smiled and sighed happily.  “I know.”  Then her eyes narrowed at Jaal.  “And I might have talked him into three if you hadn’t come barging in here.”

Jaal blinked, his confusion at suddenly being put on the defensive overriding his embarrassment.

“I was… concerned.”

“So send a message.”  Ryder crossed her arms, all the playful teasing gone from her tone.  “You have a task on Voeld.  You have  _ orders _ .  They do not include prying into nonexistent problems on Aya.”

“I had thought that if anything was wrong, only my presence would resolve it.  A message would have given him a chance to hide whatever was bothering him.”

Ryder’s expression softened.  “That is a reasonable assumption.  Next time, try me first.”

Jaal nodded, a smile creeping across his face.  “So.  You and Evfra?”

Ryder grinned.  “Yep.”

“I had never thought he would find anyone.  Or allow himself to find anyone.  Is it serious?”

She laughed at that, and lowered her voice.  “You promise not to ask him  _ anything _ about it,  _ ever _ , before I answer that.”  When he nodded a quick agreement she smiled.  “Yes.”

“I am happy for you.  Both of you.”

“Thanks.  Now, don’t you have a shuttle to catch?”

Jaal laughed at the unsubtle hint, and gave her a mocking salute.  “Absolutely, Pathfinder.  I’ll see myself out.”

 

* * *

 

Evfra sat on the sofa in his living room, absorbed in work messages and not even trying to hide it.  Ryder slid over the back of the sofa to sit next to him.

“How mad are you?”

He snorted, but didn’t look up from his work.  “You knew I did not want to tell him.  Certainly not like that!”

Ryder leaned against him, her shoulders shifting in a shrug.  “And yet, the world did not end in a ball of fire.”  At his scowl, she added cheerfully, as if it had just occurred to her, “and his head didn’t even explode!”

Evfra shifted to scowl at her.  “That is not the point.  I did not want to spread this about.  Angara gossip.  Soon, everyone will know, and will want to ask questions.”

Ryder shrugged again.  “The moshae already knows.”

“How does she know?  How do  _ you  _ know what she knows?”

“I have been keeping in touch with her, just in case something happens.”  Ryder donned an expression of such exaggerated guilt that he immediately knew she was somehow aware of his own stealthy check-ins with the Resistance.  “Please forgive me?”

He snorted, and turned away from her, back to his messages.  Ryder squirmed, and somehow managed to settle herself between him and his terminal, sitting astride his legs.  He blinked at her in surprise.

“Evfra.  There is nothing wrong with what we are doing.  And, if you don’t want to answer questions, don’t answer them.  Refer the asker to me - or the moshae!”  She added the last suggestion with a smirk that he couldn’t help sharing; very few would dare to approach the moshae with such obviously personal - and purely nosey - questions.  Ryder leaned forward to kiss him lightly, brushing her nose against his, before continuing.  “Leave the work for now.  We’re still on leave, remember?  We ought to make the most of it.”

He sighed, nerves fading in the face of her steady calm.  He was even beginning to find some pleasure in the knowledge that she didn’t want to hide their relationship.  

But he wasn’t quite ready to let go of his annoyance that easily.  “I should at least finish this reply, since I have begun it.  I will join you in a bit.”  He shifted his terminal, so he could see it even if she didn’t move.

Ryder shrugged, and stood up.  Evfra felt a grumpy surge of satisfaction that he had won this point, at least, when movement caught his eye.  Ryder’s clothes lay abandoned on the floor in front of him; Ryder herself was walking calmly back to the bedroom.  She paused at the door, and looked over her shoulder at him with a wink and a smile.

“In your own time, Mr. de Tershaav.”

 Evfra stood.  The reply would have to wait, he decided as he followed her.


	6. Chapter 6

Evfra leaned back in his desk chair with a sigh.  He and Ryder had returned to their tasks with the Resistance three weeks ago, at the end of their second week of leave - not that she han’t tried to talk him into an extra week.  The idea of everyone talking about him behind his back had finally overwhelmed his pleasure in spending time alone with Ryder, and he had been firm in his refusal to extend his leave further.  Reluctantly, Ryder had returned with him.

No one in Resistance HQ had given even a hint that they thought he might have been spending his leave with Ryder.  In fact, the pervading theory seemed to be that he had taken the time off in order to  _ escape _ Ryder; and that she, with nothing much to do without Evfra there, had taken her own leave.  He wasn’t sure how he felt about this theory, but Ryder found it hilarious.

Since returning, he had allowed her to hire and train an assistant for him.  This was working out surprisingly well; though he had spent several days reading every single report and checking it against his new assistant’s work, he had found the information she provided him with to be well filtered, well summarized, and even well prioritized.  When he had grudgingly thanked Ryder, she  had insisted smugly on what she called a “proper thank you.”

With the incoming reports and requests in such good hands, he had been able to approve Ryder’s request to hold discussions with the Resistance leaders who rotated through HQ; she wanted to compare their tactics and strategies with the Initiative’s.  Not long ago, he would have found the request suspicious, certain that she was going to use the information against them somehow.  Now, he saw the sense in knowing the strengths of their allies.  Ryder was due back from the latest of these discussions any minute now, and he was looking forward to hearing how it had gone; Andraknor was on Aya, and he was sure the Hesscarl and Ryder would have a lively conversation.

He didn’t have long to wait, Ryder came through the door almost before he finished the thought, and flung herself into the chair with a groan.  Surprised, Evfra looked at her more closely.  Her hair was falling out of the neat braid she had put it in this morning; her clothes were rumpled; there was a smear of dirt across one cheek; she looked sore and exhausted.

“Ryder!  What happened?!”

“Well… after we spoke about strategy and tactics, Andraknor invited me to participate in a close quarters combat demonstration with him.”  She let out a long sigh, and slouched down in the chair until she could rest her head on the back of it.  “He’s very  _ good _ at CQC,” she added with another groan.

Evfra was torn between amusement and concern.  “Of course he is!  And what were you thinking?  You have orders specifically barring you from combat!”

Ryder waved one hand without raising her head.  “Technically, it wasn’t combat.  It was a demonstration, so closer to exercising than a combat situation.”

He gave that response the snort it deserved, before asking hesitantly, “So, how did it go?”

Ryder groaned again.  “I’m a sniper - how do you think it went?  I didn’t thoroughly disgrace myself, I don’t think, but no money was won by betting on me.”

Before Evfra could be completely sidetracked by the thought of his Resistance leaders  _ betting _ on a demonstration, and apparently betting  _ against _ a hesscarl of all people,  Ryder threw her arms over her head and arched her back, stretching with a long moaning sigh.  His attention was immediately drawn to her chest, as his memory supplied a reminder of what they’d been doing the last time she moaned and arched like that.  When she looked over and smirked at him, he knew she had done it on purpose.  He frowned at her.

“I thought we agreed to maintain professional behavior while we were in HQ.”

She grinned.  “We did.  I’m just stretching.  Now, if you want to see  _ un _ professional behavior - just to give you something legitimate to complain about - I’d be happy to suggest ways in which we could put your desk to better use than holding up datapads.”

She lowered her arms, running her hands down her torso as if to smooth her shirt into place.  Evfra tried to smother a moan.

“Tease.”

Ryder grinned, her expression innocent.

“I’ll stop, I’ll stop.  Anyway, I’m going to head out; not up for a run tonight, I think I’ll just go home and take a shower, then lay around for the rest of the evening.”

Evfra knew very well that Ryder liked to lounge around without clothes following her showers.  He tried to look stern.  “Not.  Helping.”

Ryder just smiled, unrepentant, and started across his office.  “See you at home.”  She waved a final time before disappearing around the corner.

He listened, but the usual confusion that followed Ryder through HQ was missing; she must have been more worn out by her bout with Andraknor than she had let on.

 

* * *

 

As promised, Ryder was lounging on the bed when he returned home.  Her hair was still damp, and she lay on her stomach on the bed.  Evfra sat down beside her, running his hand down her bare back as she smiled at him over her shoulder.  She rolled over, stretching her arms over her head, and arching her back as she had done in his office.  This time, he was ready to take full advantage of the display.  Before he could do so, however, her commlink beeped.

Arching an eyebrow at him, Ryder flicked it on.  “Ryder here.”

“Pathfinder, it is nice to hear your voice again.  I wanted to let you know that the Tempest just arrived on Aya.”

“Kallo?  What are you doing here?”

“We’re picking up some supplies for Eladaan, Pathfinder.  We have also brought you a visitor.”

Evfra saw her frown, but before she could ask anything more, a new voice came on the line.

“Sara!  I was going to go straight to your apartment, but SAM says you aren’t there.  You aren’t still working, are you?  Lexi will kill you!”

Her eyes widened with delight.  “Scott!!  What are you doing on my ship?”

That earned her a snort.  “Coming to see you, silly.  I have a surprise for you, but I don’t know where to find you.  Should I just wait at your apartment, or what?”

“Uhh… actually, why don’t we meet at the tavetaan?  I’m not far from there, I’ll meet you in about ten minutes?”

“Sure thing, sis!”  The comm clicked closed.  

“I can’t believe Scott’s here!  He always did have a knack for surprises.”  Ryder bounced out of the bed and started pulling on her clothes.  Evfra sat silently on the edge of the bed, scowl firmly back in place.  Ryder didn’t notice until she finished dressing and turned to him.  “Evfra  What’s wrong?”

“Am I not invited then, to meet your brother?”

She blinked.  “Of course you are!  I would love for you to meet Scott.  I just didn’t know if you would want to.  It isn’t something we’ve talked about before.  I thought I would leave the choice up to you.”

“My choice?  What do you want?”

“I want you to come, of course!  I want to get the Nexus news stations to broadcast it across Andromeda: ‘Hands off!  Evfra de Tershaav is mine mine mine!’  But meeting someone’s family is sort of a big thing for humans.  I wanted to be sure you were ok with it before saying anything to Scott.”

He considered that, his lips turning up in a faint smile at the thought of her broadcasting their relationship across the galaxy - he had no doubt that she would use exactly those words too.  

“Well... If you will hold off on the broadcast, I would like to meet your brother.”

Her smile was brilliant, as she leaned down to kiss him softly.  She brushed her nose against his before straightening.  “I think that is worthy of a proper thank you, later on.”

Evfra was chuckling as he followed her out the door.

 

* * *

 

She must have said something right, Ryder reflected as they walked toward the tavetaan, thought she wasn’t quite sure what it had been.  Whatever the magic phrase had been, while they were walking, Evfra reached over and clasped her hand in his.  Since that was, for him, the equivalent of broadcasting things on the NNN, Ryder’s eyebrows had shot up.  Perfectly pleased with his gesture, however, she tightened her fingers around his encouragingly, and let herself drift slightly closer to him while they walked.

It was, unfortunately, a short walk to the tavetaan.  When they arrived, Evfra didn’t drop her hand as they made their between tables to where Scott sat at a table for two, a small footlocker on the ground beside him.  

As Ryder and Evfra approached, Scott’s eyebrows rose, his gaze flicking immediately to their joined hands.  Before he could say anything, Ryder dropped Evfra’s hand and three her arms around Scott.

“It’s so good to see you!  You look great, little brother!”

He frowned at her, but wasn’t able to maintain the expression in the face of her enthusiasm; soon he was smiling at her, as happy to see her as she was to see him.

“You too, sis.  I hope you’re following Lexi’s orders?”  He kept his eyes on her, uncertain what to say or do about the tall angara lurking a step or two behind her.

Ryder rolled her eyes.  “Yes,  _ dad _ , I’m following mother hen’s orders to the letter.”  Behind her, Evfra unsuccessfully smothered a laugh in a cough, drawing Scott’s attention and a glare from Ryder.  She hurried on, though.  “Scott, this is Evfra de Tershaav, the leader of the Resistance.  We’re seeing each other.”

Scott blinked at her; he had been expecting a certain amount of verbal acrobatics before he got the truth of things out of her.  His sister had never been serious enough about anyone to make such an introduction before - and he wasn’t sure this alien was the best choice she could have made, even given the circumstances.

Nonetheless, Scott held out a hand in greeting, “de Tershaav.  Nice to meet you.”

Evfra returned the gesture, more comfortable with it now, thanks to Ryder’s influence.  “And you, Mr. Ryder.”

Scott waved that off.  “Call me Scott.  Come, sit down, both of you.  I’ll find another chair.”  

Dragging the second chair around the small table so she could sit next to Evfra, Ryder smiled fondly as she watched Scott making his way through the tables.  He had always been charming, and that quality didn’t seem to have suffered from his prolonged coma and the aftereffects of dealing with the Archon; everyone he spoke to was smiling in reply and offering advice if they couldn’t offer a chair.  He finally procured one, smiling and bowing to the table of female angara who provided the spare, leaving them giggling in his wake as he made his way back to Ryder and Evfra.

He plopped the chair down across from them, it's back to the table, and sat astride it, leaning his elbows on the table and spearing Evfra with a fierce grin.

“So.  How long have you been screwing my sister?”

Ryder tried to hide her giggles as Evfra groaned.  “What is it with the two of you and that word?  Is it a human trait, or simply a Ryder trait?”

Scott laughed.  “Bluntness is a Ryder trait, for sure.  But what word?  Screwing?  Why, did she say that to you?”

“To me.  And to Jaal.  And I am not completely certain that she did not use the same word with the moshae.”  His gaze flicked to Ryder, but she had managed to get control of her expression, giving nothing away.  This was not reassuring; he stared at her.  “You did.  You told  _ Moshae Sjefa _ that we are… screwing.”  

He spoke the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, and Ryder dissolved into giggles again.  “I might have.”  At his horrified look she defended herself, “She asked!”

“I doubt she asked for that level of… bluntness,” he spoke primly, and added, “She is our most revered leader.”  Then he tried again, rather desperately in the face of Ryder’s continued giggles, “It is not appropriate!”

Ryder shrugged, cast a quick wink at Scott, then widened her eyes at Evfra in mock innocence.  “She didn’t seem bothered by it.  I think you’re just being uptight, Evfra.”

“No, I am not!  Whether she showed that she was bothered or not, it is simply… not _done._ ”  Trying earnestly to convince her of the truth of this, he added, unwisely, “Anyone would agree with me.” 

Ryder shrugged.  “Andraknor didn’t seem disturbed by my bluntness.”  

Evfra choked.  “You told  _ Andraknor?” _

Ryder smiled at him, unrepentant.  “He guessed, sort of.”

“How did he ‘sort of’ guess that?”  Evfra spoke through clenched teeth.

Ryder scowled, remembering.  “He’s very good at asking questions that seem innocent until suddenly you’ve told him waaaay more than you were planning on.”  She considered.  “Not a bad trick, that, actually.  May have to get him to teach me sometime.”

Evfra just groaned and slumped in his chair.  “I suppose I should be glad you didn’t make  _ that _ your broadcast.”  

Ryder grinned again, running her hand up his leg under the table, and leaning toward him.  “Do you want me to?”

Evfra’s horrified ‘no!’ was drowned in Scott’s laughter.  “It’s a lost cause, you know.  She’s always been like this; drives everyone to distraction.  If you want to start running now, de Tershaav, I’ll hold her down long enough for you to hide.”

“No.”  Despite knowing that Scott had been joking, Evfra answered so seriously that both siblings blinked at him.  “No, I do not want to hide from her.”  

Ryder beamed at him, and Scott gave him a genuine smile before reaching over to tousle Ryder’s hair.  “Your funeral, man.”  

 She snorted and batted his hand away, and the conversation moved on.


	7. Chapter 7

Evfra had been content to listen to Ryder speak with her brother, without adding much more to the conversation, lost in thoughts of his own.   

When Scott stood up to take his leave, rejoining the Tempest before she left Aya, Evfra watched as he and Ryder hugged, and accepted a handshake.  Ryder watched her brother disappear; Evfra lifted the footlocker that Scott had brought for her, and carried it easily, earning a kiss for his trouble. 

When they reached his home, Ryder asked Evfra to set the footlocker on the floor in front of his sofa. 

“Come sit with me?  I want to show you this.  It’s the things I brought from home.” 

Evfra sat, casting a glance at the footlocker.  “It seems… small, to hold everything you have of your life before coming here.” 

Ryder smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.  “There were some pretty tight restrictions on what all we could bring.  It had to fit in one of these, everyone got one, and there were all sorts of rules and a long list of things that couldn’t be packed.  As Vetra is always happy to remind me, not everyone followed those rules.  I did, though, so it’s just personal stuff.” 

Evfra stared at the footlocker, considering for the first time how far she had come - how much she had left behind her.  Ryder opened the lid, and smiled.  She pulled out a smaller box, flipping the lid to reveal an odd collection of objects.  Evfra stared as she picked up several of them, and offered them to him. 

“Seashells, and rocks, collected from a place on earth where we used to go on vacation.” 

He smiled slightly at her bright eyes and put the objects gently back in the box.  Next came several OSDs, which she said had family pictures on them.  Then a long ribbon, a faded blue color, narrow and shimmery.  She picked it up and ran it slowly between her fingers, smiling at it.  She glanced up at Evfra. 

“This was Mom’s.  She was wearing it when she met my dad, and always saved it.”  Grinning, she reached back, quickly freeing her hair from the braid.  When she had shaken her head to loosen the curls from confinement, she looped the ribbon around her hair at the nape of her neck in a loose tail.  Evfra grinned at her, running his hand down the fall of her hair. 

Next, she pulled out a smaller box, her smile fading as she stared at it.  She sat still so long that Evfra reached over and placed his hand on hers.   

“Are you alright?” 

She took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly as if to clear it.  Then she looked up at him and smiled.   

“Yeah.  These are my parents’ wedding rings.  Dad gave them to me, told me to keep them safe until they were wanted.  I thought he meant when Scott or I found someone and got married.  It just occurred to me, that he wanted me that he meant for when Mom wakes up.” 

Evfra shook his head, his voice quietly amused.  “Quite the planner, your father.  And very good with secrets.” 

Ryder laughed at that, and nodded.  She set the box aside carefully, without opening it, and lifted something else out.  Lengths of some oddly knotted pattern, and a lot of narrow white thread on spools; almost half the footlocker was taken up with these things.  She spread them out, and Evfra stared at them, fascinated by the mathematical precision that had created something that was purely art.  Ryder was watching him, smiling slightly as he tried to puzzle his way through the creation of such a thing. 

“It’s called lace.  I like to make it.  It’s just a pattern and a bunch of knots, but it keeps my hands busy.  It’s put on clothes as decoration, usually.” 

Evfra looked up at her, eyes wide.  “It is beautiful.  I see both art and science in it.  I would enjoy watching you work.”

Ryder smiled, blushing slightly at this compliment, and started putting everything back in the footlocker.  Finished, she closed the lid and leaned back with a sigh. 

Evfra was about to moved next to her, when something caught his attention.  There were carvings on a small plate on the top of the lid, he ran a finger over them.   

“What is this?” 

Ryder sat up from where she’d been leaning back against the sofa and looked at where he was pointing.  She shrugged.  “Personal info, so they know who it belongs to.”  When he just kept watching her, Ryder grinned and ran her fingers over the carvings, one line at a time, reading them aloud.   

“Ark hyperion, and the my cryopod location and number.”  Her fingers dropped to the next line, “Pathfinder Team, Recon Specialist.”  Her fingers dropped to the last line.  “My name.” 

Evfra watched her fingers, staring at the strange letters.  “There seem to be… more than I expected for your name.”  Her ran his own finger over the last line, feeling the difference in texture between the letters and the background plate. 

Ryder shrugged.  “Why?” 

“I suppose it is different when translated to our language, but ‘Ryder’ does not require much space when we write it.” 

There was silence.  After a moment, Evfra looked over at her curiously, only to find her staring at him with her mouth open and a completely baffled expression.  Just before he could ask her what was wrong, she spoke. 

“Evfra… you do know that Ryder is just my last name, right?  There’s more to it than that.” 

He blinked at her, feeling his own expression go as slack as hers.  “There is?” 

She huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest.  “Ye-es.”  She drew the word out to a full two syllables, sounding so annoyed that he was immediately defensive. 

“And how was I to know this?  Everyone calls you Ryder.  Or Pathfinder.  The Moshae.  Paaran Shie.  Andraknor.   _Jaal._  Everyone calls you Ryder.”  

She was grinning now, trying to hide it behind her hand.  “And you really just thought that was it?  You didn’t read the diplomatic information from the Initiative?  What about Scott?  He doesn’t call me Ryder!” 

“He is your sibling, he may call you something no one outside the family does.  I have plenty of things to read, I did not feel I needed to waste time reading the diplomatic brief when I had already met you, and Jaal was sending me reports that were far more accurate than anything diplomats and politicians put together.  Besides, others in your Initiative have only one name.” 

Ryder grinned; at his frown, she tried to smother a giggle, but failed.  “Like who?” 

“Your pilot.  Kallo.” 

“Jath.”   

“Pardon?” 

“Kallo’s last name is Jath.  Try again.”   

“Director Tann.” 

“You mean Director _Jarun_ Tann?”  

“No one ever calls him that!” 

“And yet, it is his name.  Anyone else?” 

He looked annoyed now.  “None of your Initiative people introduce themselves properly.  I suppose you’re going to tell me that Drack has a last name as well?” 

“Nackmor.” 

“Drack Nackmor?” 

“No, Nackmor Drack.  It’s a krogan thing.  Didn’t you read _any_ of the diplomatic information we sent you?”  

Never one to give up easily, Evfra played his trump card.  “SAM.”  He said it triumphantly, and was instantly crushed by Ryder’s smirk. 

“Simulated Adapted Matrix.  SAM has _three_ names.”  She smiled earnestly at him.  “Good try, though!”  

He scowled at her, a growl entering his voice.  “I have been calling you Ryder the entire time you were here.  Even in bed!  Why did you not correct me?” 

She shrugged; suddenly unable to meet his eyes, she looked down at the floor instead.  “I… figured you were trying to keep things sort of casual, that’s all.” 

By the annoyed huff of his breath, he clearly hadn’t appreciated that comment.   Evfra reached up, and ran his fingers through her hair gently, and she leaned into his touch.  Suddenly, his fingers tightened and he wrapped the end of her hair around his hand; pulling firmly, but without any intention of hurting her, he forced her to look up and meet his gaze. 

His voice was dark and forceful.  “I was not.”

When her eyes widened, and slid half closed with a shuddering sigh, he leaned forward and kissed her.  It was a harsh kiss, demanding, and it sent a shiver up her spine.  He ended it too soon, leaving her wanting more as he moved on, running his mouth over her throat in quick nips and longer licks.  When she swayed toward him, her body pliant with desire, he stopped long enough to bring his mouth to her ear.   

“What is it?”  His voice was low and dangerous and she shivered again.

Ryder blinked, scrambling for the lost pieces of conversation.   _Name.  Right._ She gasped as his teeth worried her earlobe, followed by the warm puff of his breath ghosting across her ear as he waited impatiently for an answer.  She tried to move away, tried to collect her thoughts, but his hand still held her hair, keeping her at his mercy.  That low growl sounded again at her struggles, and she moaned. 

Finally, she gasped out, “Sara.  Sara Grace Ryder.” 

Abruptly, he released her and stood.  She gaped up at him incredulously, trying to catch her breath, only to be met with a smirk as he walked backwards toward the bedroom. 

“Come along then, Sara Grace Ryder, and I will show you how serious I am.”

 

* * *

 

She fell asleep, after, but Evfra lay awake, staring at the ceiling. 

He had been upset when she admitted to thinking he wasn’t serious about her - hurt, annoyed, and terrified, if he was being honest.  He was more serious about her than he had ever thought possible, but he didn’t know what to do about it. 

He had no idea how humans handled such things.  She had said something about her parents’ ‘wedding’ and his translator had given him an imperfect idea of what she meant.  A celebration joining two people; angara joined their mate’s family, and this seemed similar enough for his thoughts. 

The problem, of course, was that he had no family to offer her. 

Mothers, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles.  He had no relations to welcome her into their family.  No mothers to teach her the family history; no true mother to tell her embarrassing stories about his childhood.  No siblings to tell her of past rivalries; no cousins who would tell her of childish triumphs.  She had given up so much to come here, and lost more when she arrived; she deserved someone who could give her a large family.   

He had never felt more alone than he did now; not since they had first been lost had he wished his family back as strongly as he did now.  Now, when he had someone to introduce them to. 

Ryder - Sara, he corrected himself - shifted in her sleep, curling against him, one arm over his chest.  

Evfra sighed, and though he tried to keep his eyes from her, he couldn’t help but study her; despite knowing it would only cause him pain.  This peace was so new and would be lost to him so soon.  When her time as liaison was over, she would return to her ship and her duty.  He would be left here; with nothing to offer her except himself, how could he hope she would stay?


	8. Chapter 8

The Tempest would be returning for Ryder in two weeks.  Evfra had spent the last week trying desperately to come up with an idea - any idea - to keep her there.

 He knew what he _wanted,_ of course.  He had known for quite some time, though he couldn’t point to a specific day or time and say, “There.  That’s when I decided.”  No, he had simply looked at her, and suddenly he knew that she was what he wanted; she was what he had always wanted, what he would always want, and had been for awhile.  One moment, he had no idea what they were doing or where they were going; the next moment, he had always known what he wanted for them.  The problem, of course, was getting it.

 He couldn’t ask her to join his family.  He didn’t have one.  He knew, intellectually, that he wasn’t the only person in this position, and that others of his people had made relationships work.  It was logical, and a normal part of a living at a time when a particularly nasty war had raged for the last eighty years.  

 No, it wasn’t the fact that he had no family that held him back from making the offer to Ryder.  It was when he considered that he had so little to offer her in general, that this obstacle became insurmountable.  Perhaps, if he had been a model of all that a male angara should be, that obstacle would not have loomed so large in his mind.  Perhaps, if he had anything to truly offer her - good looks, exceptional physical or combat ability, intelligence, a personality that would win him friends and influence wherever he went - he would have counted his regrettable lack of a family as simply a sorrow, not a critical failure.  As it was, he would really have liked his family to be there; they could have offset his failings, smoothed over his deficiencies, and been a sufficient draw that she would overlook his shortfalls.

 Perhaps, she would have been willing to settle for him, if he had a family to offer her.

 Since he didn’t, that path was closed to him.  After several days, he had finally wrenched his thoughts away from the enticing picture of Ryder joining his family - being only his, forever - and forced himself to come up with other options.

 If he couldn’t offer that full commitment, he would be satisfied with continuing what they had.  The last weeks with her had been wonderful; simply continuing it wouldn’t be _enough_ and he would always have to worry that she might eventually move on, but it would be far better than having nothing.  In order to manage it, though, he had to come up with a way to get her to stay.

 Finally, he had been stuck with an idea that seemed perfect.  He would convince her to stay, professionally.  If she was staying for the good of her people and his, then she wouldn’t be staying for _him,_ but she would still be here and they could continue as they had been.  

 He could see no flaws in it, and now - with two weeks to go before the Tempest returned - he was waiting anxiously for his regular meeting with the moshae to put the idea into action.  

 Finally, his calendar beeped the reminder at him; he shot to his feet, leaving his current task with a willingness that had Ryder’s eyebrows raising at him from across the desk. 

 “I have a meeting with the moshae.  Will you meet me for lunch after?  At the tavetaan?”

 She nodded, and before she could say anything, he was gone.

 

* * *

 

“Moshae.  I would like you to request an extension to the liaison program.”  He was speaking as he moved across her office to his usual chair; he hadn’t been able to wait through their usual greetings before putting his plan in motion.

 The moshae studied him, her wide eyes calmly assessing him.  Evfra tried not to fidget, instead keeping his thoughts on the professional reasons behind his request.  He was determined to keep his emotions out of this conversation.

 “I can certainly ask Director Tann to send someone else, if you feel you would benefit by continuing to have an Initiative liaison here.  You had expressed some concerns about that, before Ryder came, however; Director Tann is unlikely to be able to spare another soldier, you will most likely be sent a civilian, you realize.”

 “No.  Not a new liaison.  I want him to leave Ryder here.  She has been very useful, and has more ideas than time to implement them.  Do you know I have an assistant now?  That is her doing.  No, I do not want someone else, I want Ryder’s stay extended.  Indefinitely.”

 The moshae was shaking her head.  “Evfra, I do not believe that will be possible.  She was only able to come in the first place because her doctor wished her to have a medical leave.  The Initiative will not want to lose her.”

 “Perhaps it would not have been possible when she first came; perhaps it will not be something they are willing to do.  But if you and she both urge Tann to allow it, I cannot see him refusing, can you?”

 The moshae ignored this question, catching his earlier statement.  “Is she so willing to remain here as a liaison, then?  I know you two have become close, but I--”

 His hand waved between them, cutting her off.  “I have not discussed it with her, yet, but I am certain she will wish to continue as we have been when I present the plan to her.”

 “Are you sure your motives are purely professional?”

 “I have plenty of solid reasons for wishing Ryder to continue here as liaison that have nothing to do with our personal lives,” he answered stiffly.  It was true too, but not the entire truth.

 Moshae Sjefa narrowed her eyes at him, then gave a fluid shrug.  “Speak with her first, then we will decide.  I do not argue that Ryder would be a great asset to us, just whether her own people will be willing to release her.  As to whether she would wish to remain… I leave that to you.  Let me know how you both wish to proceed.”

 Evfra smiled at her and nodded as he stood.  “Thank you, moshae.  I will speak to her immediately.”

 He was heading toward the door when her voice stopped him.  “Evfra.  Be sure that you are being honest - with her and yourself.  When we hide our motivations, even from ourselves, we open ourselves to misunderstandings and hurt.”

 Evfra brushed this advice off, too certain of his plan and too eager to put it into motion to consider her warning. 

 

* * *

 

Ryder was waiting for him, at a table for two.  As usual, she had somehow managed to request - and obtain - a table in a quiet corner, giving the illusion of privacy.  He made his way to her quickly, his pleasure with his plan and her anticipated response prompting him to kiss her cheek in greeting before he sat down.  Ryder’s eyebrows rose as she stared at him.

 “You’re in a good mood, today.”  When he just shrugged in response, she lowered her voice, leaning across the table toward him.  “Does it have anything to do with the very… enjoyable… weekend we just had?”

 Her voice sent a thrill down his spine; the memory of their amorous activities over the past weekend sending a second, stronger thrill elsewhere.  He frowned at her for teasing him in public, but she just sat back with a satisfied smile, and took a sip of the water sitting in front of her.

 “So.  Lunch meeting?  Business or pleasure?”

 “Business.  I have spoken with the moshae, and have her support.  We would like you to remain as the Initiative liaison to the Resistance.”

 Ryder blinked at him.  “What?”  Her eyes widened with alarm.  “Has something happened?  Did the kett come back?”

 He wasn’t sure whether he was proud of her, or offended that her first thought when being asked to stay was that there had been a renewal of hostilities.  “No, no nothing like that.”  He hastened to reassure her.  “I just appreciate what you have done here, and want you to continue doing it.”

 Ryder relaxed slightly, a faint frown on her lips.  

 “Alright… so no new danger?”  She waited for his nod before continuing.  “How much longer were you thinking?”

 “Indefinitely.”

 “What?  Evfra, I can’t stay here indefinitely!  I have a job, a crew, and thousands of people depending on me!  I can’t just… just drop all that on someone else and stay here as a sort of glorified assistant!”

 Evfra pulled back as sharply as if she’d slapped him.  She didn’t want to stay.  Didn’t want to continue what they had.  He stood.

 “I see.  My apologies, Pathfinder.”  He added bitterly, “I should have known better.”  

 Before she could do or say anything, he was walking away, weaving impatiently between tables.  He ignored her when she called his name; ignored the confusion in her voice.  He kept walking, blindly making his way out of the tavetaan.  He didn’t go back to his office, he couldn’t stand to be there.  

 Instead, he went home, where he promptly changed the entry code to ensure his privacy.  Then he locked the door, stumbled into his room, and collapsed on his bed.  He lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling.  

 She didn’t want him.  He should have known better than to hope.

 

* * *

 

Ryder sat at the table in the tavetaan, staring incredulously at Evfra’s retreating back.  What in the world had just happened?

 The waiter came by, setting the lunch she had ordered in front of her and hesitating at Evfra’s empty seat.  “Just, would you pack them up to go, please?  Something’s come up.”  He nodded and retreated without a word.

 Ryder stared at the table, unable to come up with an explanation of Evfra’s behavior.  When the waiter brought her meals back, she rose and left, walking slowly as her mind churned with confusion.

 Had he really thought she would just abandon her role as Pathfinder so easily?  Did he really think that she would leave all the people of the Initiative - most of whom were still in cryostasis for pity’s sake! - with no one to find them homes?  

 She knew she hadn’t done anything that was particularly useful or important while she was here, but until now it hadn’t bothered her.  This was a temporary stop, a way to appease Lexi and Tann; her presence had been main benefit of the liaison idea, after all, not anything she did while here.  But why, then, would he want to continue it?  

 Was he looking for political leverage?  Was the moshae?  Had they gained some sort of advantage over Tann by her presence?  Not that she knew of, but then she didn’t pay all that much attention to politics.  She had thought that, if anything, her presence would encourage the angaran and the Initiative races to work together; show it was possible, show they were better off working together, blah blah blah.  She hadn’t thought further than that.

 Thinking about it now, though, she still couldn’t imagine that it made any real difference.  

 Her thoughts jumped ahead.  Had Lexi pushed one or both of them into trying to keep her there longer for some reason having to do with her health?  While she thought her doctor was capable of such sneaky dealings in the name of patient health, she didn’t think Lexi would broken patient confidentiality so casually without at least trying to get Ryder herself to agree to an extended period of leave.  No, that couldn’t be it.

 Ryder scowled with frustration and decided to avoid Evfra and the Resistance HQ for now.  She headed home, instead.  He could just get by without her for the afternoon.

 And why had he been so annoyed, anyway?  Surely he had been faced with people turning down jobs and promotions before, hadn’t he?  She knew for a fact that Jaal had turned down just such an offer, himself, in favor of staying with the Tempest.  So that couldn’t be it.

 She had reached home by now, and was surprised when her entry code returned an error beep, and the door remained locked.  She scowled at it and tried again.  Same response.  She hadn’t forgotten the code, and hadn’t entered it incorrectly.  Which could only mean that Evfra had changed it.

 He’d _changed_ it?  He’d locked her out, simply because she wasn’t willing to walk away from her responsibilities to do make-work on Aya?  How was she going to sit across from him every day for the rest of her time here, trying to maintain a professional demeanor when he was acting like… 

 Her thoughts trailed off.  What if this wasn’t about the job, at all?  Ryder groaned.  That was probably it, exactly.  The fool.  

 Her eyes narrowed at the locked door.  As if he thought that was going to protect him from her.  A quick thought at SAM, and a moment with her omnitool was all it took before the door beeped obligingly and opened.  

 Ryder carefully set their lunches in the kitchen, moving quietly as she relocked the door with her own encryption so he wouldn’t have a chance to get out before she had said her piece.

 She was going to kill him.

 

* * *

 

 Evfra was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to keep his mind blank.  He jumped when Ryder’s voice filled the room.

 “What the hell was that about?  You’re locking me out of our house because of a stupid job?”

 He sat up, scowling at her.  “How did you get in here?”

 She snorted and rolled her eyes.  “You do remember that I can decode Remnant tech?  You really thought changing the lock on the front door was going to slow me down?”

 “I had thought you would respect my wish for privacy, at the very least.”

 “Oh, did you?  Why?  You told me we were having a professional discussion, why would that affect our home?  You know - our personal lives?  Or are we not keeping those separate anymore?”

 “You made your opinion quite clear, Ryder.”

 “Ye-esss, I did.  On a professional topic.  So the question stands.”

 “I do not wish to discuss this further.  You made your decision, we do not need to continue speaking of it.”  

 He stood up, pushed past her and headed toward the front door.  Ryder turned, and leaned in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting.  It only took a few moments until he stormed back to where she was standing.

 “What did you do to my damn door?”

 “I locked it.  You should be familiar with the concept.”

 “Unlock it!  Now!”

 “Nope.”

 Evfra growled low in his throat and took a step toward her.  Ryder didn’t move, so he ended up looming over her, scowling down at her from his superior height.  

 “You are the one who wants to leave.  You never even considered this as anything more than a passing fling, did you?  Just a way to keep from being bored while you were stuck in some boring job?”

 Her eyes narrowed, Ryder put her hands on his chest and shoved him backwards.

 “Don’t be an idiot.  You’re the one who thought that turning down make-work meant I didn’t care about _you._ ”

 “Clearly you do not!  You would want to stay, if you cared about me!”

 “And you wouldn’t be trying to change me if you cared about me!”

 “I am not trying to change you!  I was trying to keep things the way they are - that is the opposite of change!”

 “You wanted me to abandon everyone who is counting on me.  Abandon my duty, my team, my people.  That would be a pretty big change, don’t you think?  And then, to show how much you care, you decided to lie to me!”

 “I never lied.”

 She snorted expressively, and he repeated, louder, “I never lied!”

 They stood there, glaring at each other.  Ryder’s arms crossed tightly over her chest, her narrowed eyes flashing fire at him.  Evfra’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his scowl firmly fixed as he refused to meet her gaze.

 Several minutes passed in tense silence.

 Suddenly, Ryder snickered, and bit her lip.  Evfra looked at her suspiciously, which only made the laughter more determined to escape.  The more she fought the giggles, the more Evfra scowled.  The more he scowled, the more she felt like laughing.  Finally, she gave up, letting the laughter loose.

 She laughed until she was out of breath, backing away from the door frame to sit on the bed, her arms clutched around her stomach now, the laughter coming around gasps for breath.  Every time she thought she had it under control, she glanced up at Evfra, standing in the doorway, still scowling, and the laughter bubbled back up.

 Finally catching her breath, she looked up at him.  “I’m sorry.”  She giggled, but kept control of herself.  “I was just remembering something my mother used to tell my father when they fought.”  Another giggle, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

 To her surprise, Evfra asked, grudgingly, “And what is this hilarious comment of your mother’s?”

 Ryder grinned, “She always used to tell him, ‘I swear, Alec!  You have more hair than sense!’  And, well, I thought of it, and then, well…”  She was giggling again, and waved a hand at him as she gasped, “Then I realized you don’t have _any_ hair.”  She clamped her mouth firmly shut, trying to keep the laughter in, but ended up snorting at his continued scowl.  “And _then_ it occurred to me that it was still accurate, and… I just… couldn’t…” 

 She couldn’t finish the sentence, she was laughing again.  Evfra watched as she fell backwards on the bed, catching her breath.  He was relaxing slightly, finding it hard to remain mad in the face of her mirth.  He took her earlier position, leaning in the doorway, his arms folded loosely across his chest, a slightly amused expression creeping across his face.

 Finally, Ryder sat up.  She looked at him, seriously, no anger left in her eyes.

 “Evfra.  I was _only_ turning down the liaison job.  I thought that is what we were talking about - because you _said_ it’s what we were talking about - I didn’t realize you were thinking about the job and our relationship as the same question.”

 He sighed.  When she held out a hand to him, he walked hesitantly across the room, and let her pull him down to sit next to her on the bed.

 “I thought if I found a reason for you to stay professionally, I wouldn’t have to ask you to stay personally.”

 Her eyes were wide when she looked at him.  “Don’t you want me to stay… personally?”

 He surprised her by pulling her into a crushing hug.  “Yes.  More than anything.  But I have nothing to offer you.  No family for you to become a part of.  Just… me.  I know it is not enough.”

 “You know that, do you?”  She pushed against him until he released her enough that she could look into his eyes.  Ryder put her hands on his cheeks, and caught his gaze, not letting him look away.  “Like you knew that I couldn’t follow orders?  Like you knew I would do nothing but annoy you for three months?”  Slowly, his expression was clearing, and hope dawned in his eyes.  She kissed him, long and gently, before pulling away.  “Like you knew I couldn’t sit still for a day?”

 This time, Evfra kissed her; his arms tightened around her as if he still thought she’d slip away from him, his mouth was desperate against hers.  When he finally leaned back, panting slightly, to look at her, she grinned at him.

 “More hair than sense, Evfra.” 

 Her growled, and pulled her down to the bed with him, more than willing to accept her judgement of him if they could get to the making up.  Suddenly, he sat up.

 “ _Our_ house?  I locked you out of _our house?”_

 Ryder rolled her eyes and sat up.  “That’s what I said.”

 “I… didn’t know you thought of it that way.”

 “Well.  Yes.”

 He was silent for a long time, considering.  Finally, he looked up at her.

 “So… is it?”

 She didn’t pretend that she hadn’t understood him; she didn’t make a joke of it, either, just answered him with complete and open honesty.

 “You are more than enough.  More than I ever expected to find.  Everything I have ever wanted.  You.”

 His smile grew with her words; it didn’t even slip when he said, “But you still need to leave.”

 She nodded.  “Yes.  I am still the Pathfinder for my people.  But I will come home as often as I can.”  

 His hand tightened around hers at the word “home.”  He said, thoughtfully, “Maybe, once I get someone trained as my second in command, I should go out to visit all our Resistance bases.  Make an inspection, see how they’re doing, that sort of thing.  Good for moral.  I wonder if you could give me a ride?”

 Ryder grinned.  “That sort of trip could last awhile, you know.  What would we tell the moshae about your absence?  Besides, you’d have to share my quarters.  What would we tell the crew?”

 Evfra leaned over, brushing his nose against hers.  “I thought we’d tell them that we’re getting married.”  He paused, thoughtfully, before adding, “or we could tell them that I’m screwing the human Pathfinder.  If anyone asks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. Thank you all for reading, and for the encouraging comments!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks. This is a bit of a experiment for me (longer chapters, different dynamic, more conversations, etc); so, while I will update steadily, it won't be as regularly or as quickly as LATAS updated. Just a warning. I hope you enjoy the story!


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